Nowadays, cancer is the second prevalent cause of mortality after cardiovascular diseases in
developed and the third one in developing countries. Adverse effects of chemotherapeutic
agents bring the necessity of investigating about new medications with fewer side effects.
Daphne L. genus is one of the natural sources with valuable reported anticancer effects
This study aimed to assess the cytotoxic effect of some extracts from the aerial parts of
Daphne pontica collected from North of Iran on cancer cell lines.Extraction of the plant
material was performed by maceration (3×72 h) of 200 g of sample with petroleum ether,
chloroform, ethyl acetate, and methanol, respectively. The total extract was also obtained by
maceration of the sample with 80% ethanol. Different concentrations of the dried extracts
were prepared to assess their cytotoxic effect by 24 h incubation of cell lines with different
extracts and then MTT (dimethyl thiazolyl diphenyl tetrazolium) assay on three cancerous cell
lines (MDA-MB-231, MCF-7 and T47D), performed in triplicate. IC50 was then estimated
from curves constructed by plotting cell survival (%) versus sample concentration (μg/ml).
Results indicated that ethyl acetate fraction of D. pontica had the most potent cytotoxic
effect in MTT assay with IC 50 = 977.46 μg/ml; while other fractions were weaker in toxicity
(IC 50 >1000 μg/ml). By comparing to potent cytotoxic effects of other Daphne species, it
seems that the cytotoxic properties of D. pontica is different from other species of this genus
since according to this study, no significant antineoplastic properties against the three breast
cancer cell lines were determined. Further studies on other pharmacological activities of this
plant are recommended.