Identification, Phytochemistry and Biological Activities of Paris polyphylla on Hepatocellular Carcinoma.

<b>Background and Objective:</b> Liver cancer is the common cause of cancer death. <i>Paris polyphylla</i> is used as a traditional folk medicine in Vietnam to treat pneumonia, mastitis, bruises and fractures but no study was available regarding its ability to treat liver cancer or slow its growth. In this study, <i>Paris polyphylla</i> samples were identified and evaluated cytotoxic activity against the liver cancer cells. <b>Materials and Methods:</b> <i>Paris polyphylla</i> species were collected from various areas in Yen Bai, Vietnam, which were identified by comparative morphological method and DNA barcoding for the <i>18S, matK</i> genes and <i>ITS</i> region. <i>Paris polyphylla</i> samples were dried until constant weight, ground into a fine powder and extracted in various solvents. The bioactivity of these extracts were done by the MTT assay. <b>Results:</b> The sequences of <i>18S, matK</i> genes and <i>ITS</i> region were high similarity to sequences of <i>P. polyphylla</i> in the National Center for Biotechnology Information. The N-hexane and ethyl acetate fractions were produced from the methanol extract of <i>P. polyphylla</i>. The TLC results showed that there was a significant difference in the component of n-hexane and ethyl acetate fraction. The N-hexane fraction contains mainly low-polarity and non-polarity substances. While ethyl acetate fraction consists mainly of polar substances. In addition, ethyl acetate fraction was shown the strongest cytotoxic activity on the cancer cell lines HepG2 and Huh7 with the evaluation of IC₅₀ = 115.11±2.77 µg mL¹ and IC₅₀ = 148.11±1.78 µg mL¹. <b>Conclusion:</b> The extract of <i>Paris polyphylla</i> demonstrated strong potential to inhibit the growth of the liver cancer cell line. The ethyl acetate fraction has the highest ability for cytotoxicity on the liver and cell line at a concentration of 200 µg mL¹ through MTT.

Lichen Secondary Metabolite, Physciosporin, Inhibits Lung Cancer Cell Motility.

Lichens produce various unique chemicals that can be used for pharmaceutical purposes. To screen for novel lichen secondary metabolites showing inhibitory activity against lung cancer cell motility, we tested acetone extracts of 13 lichen samples collected in Chile. Physciosporin, isolated from Pseudocyphellaria coriacea (Hook f. & Taylor) D.J. Galloway & P. James, was identified as an effective compound and showed significant inhibitory activity in migration and invasion assays against human lung cancer cells. Physciosporin treatment reduced both protein and mRNA levels of N-cadherin with concomitant decreases in the levels of epithelial-mesenchymal transition markers such as snail and twist. Physciosporin also suppressed KITENIN (KAI1 C-terminal interacting tetraspanin)-mediated AP-1 activity in both the absence and presence of epidermal growth factor stimulation. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis showed that the expression of the metastasis suppressor gene, KAI1, was increased while that of the metastasis enhancer gene, KITENIN, was dramatically decreased by physciosporin. Particularly, the activity of 3'-untranslated region of KITENIN was decreased by physciosporin. Moreover, Cdc42 and Rac1 activities were decreased by physciosporin. These results demonstrated that the lichen secondary metabolite, physciosporin, inhibits lung cancer cell motility through novel mechanisms of action.