Extraction, phytochemical characterization and anti-cancer mechanism of Haritaki churna: An ayurvedic formulation

Haritaki churna (HC), a single herb ayurvedic formulations is known to be prescribed for various gastro-intestinal disorders in Ayurveda. Haritaki churna aqueous extract (HCAE) has anti-cancer activity against different types of cancer cells with an IC(50) in the range of 50–97 μg/ml. Bioavailability of Haritaki Churna is very high in digestive track and treatment of colorectal cancer cells HCT-116, DLD1, HT-29 with HCAE reduces its cellular viability with anti-cancer IC(50) 70μg/ml. HCAE consumption is safe for human as it didn’t affect the cellular viability of primary human PBMCs or non-cancerogenic HEK-293 cells. Haritaki churna was found to be stable in biological gastric fluids and bioactive agents are not losing their anti-cancer activity under such harsh conditions. The HPLC Chromatogram of HCAE is giving 13 major peaks and 11 minor peaks. Exploiting LC-MS, IR and NMR spectroscopic techniques, a total of 13 compounds were identified from HCAE namely Shikimic acid, Chebulic acid, gallic acid, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural, Protocatechuic acid, 4-O-galloyl-shikimic Acid, 5-O-galloyl-shikimic Acid, Methylgallate, corilagin, 1, 2, 6, Tri-O-galloyl β-D-glucose, chebulagic acid, chebulinic acid, and Ellagic acid. Reconstitution and subtraction of phytochemicals from the mixture indicate that Ellagic acid significantly contribute into anti-cancer effect of HCAE. Cancer cells treated with ellagic acid from HCAE were incapable of completing their cell-cycle and halted the cell-cycle at DNA synthesis S-Phase, as demonstrated by decreased cyclin A2 expression levels with increasing ellagic acid concentration. Halting of cells at S-phase causes induction of apoptosis in cancer cells. Cancer cells exhibiting DNA fragmentation, changes in expression of several apoptotic proteins such as Bcl2, cytochrome-c and formation of cleaved products of caspase 3 and PARP-1 suggests ellagic acid induces cell death via mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis.