Anticancer Activity, Antioxidant Activity, and Phenolic and Flavonoids Content of Wild Tragopogon porrifolius Plant Extracts

Tragopogon porrifolius, commonly referred to as white salsify, is an edible herb used in folk medicine to treat cancer. Samples of Tragopogon porrifolius plant grown wild in Palestine were extracted with different solvents: water, 80% ethanol, and 100% ethanol. The extracts were analyzed for their total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC), and antioxidant activity (AA). Four different antioxidant assays were used to evaluate AA of the extracts: two measures the reducing power of the extracts (ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and cupric reducing antioxidant power (CUPRAC)), while two other assays measure the scavenging ability of the extracts (2,2-azino-di-(3-ethylbenzothialozine-sulphonic acid (ABTS)) and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH)). Anticancer activity of the plant extracts were also tested on HOS and KHOS osteosarcoma cell lines. The results revealed that the polarity of the extraction solvent affects the TPC, TFC, and AA. It was found that both TPC and AA are highest for plant extracted with 80% ethanol, followed by water, and finally with 100% ethanol. TFC however was the highest in the following order: 80% ethanol > 100% ethanol > water. The plant extracts showed anticancer activities against KHOS cancer cell lines; they reduced total cell count and induced cell death in a drastic manner.