RESUMO
Aim of the work: Animal urine, including that of camels, has long been used for the therapeutic management of human ailments. In this study, we sought to characterize the cytotoxic properties of newly derived purified fractions from previously described camel urine extract (PMF) on various cancer cell lines. Methodology: Two new size dissimilar fractions of PMF (large and small) were obtained by fractionalizing PMF using 3kD and 50kD membrane filters. A SRB cytotoxicity assay of the PMF fractions was performed on cancer cell lines (A549, HCT116, HepG2, MCF-7, U251 and Hela) as well as normal cell lines (human fibroblast cell line and Vero). Results: This study showed that the newly derived and more purified fraction of PMF (new PMF) possesses effective and selective anti-cancer properties against several types of cancer cell lines. Conclusion: This study, as well as previous ones, suggests that camel urine extracts (old and new PMF) may provide newer therapeutic alternatives to clinically manage cancer patients. However, further studies are needed to verify these positive preliminary results.