ArticlePloS one2013
The anti-cancer activities of Vernonia amygdalina extract in human breast cancer cell lines are mediated through caspase-dependent and p53-independent pathways.
Article in PloS one, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 32 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
32 citing papers in PubMed, 105 citations in OpenAlex.
- African Medicinal Plants Targeting Triple-Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC): A Systematic Review of Ethnobotanical Surveys, Phytochemistry and Anti-TNBC Studies.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Integrated Morphoanatomical, Phytochemical, and Bioactive Insights Into the Ethnomedicinal Plant Daphniphyllum neilgherrense.Chemistry & biodiversity · 2026Article
- Evolution of computational techniques against various KRAS mutants in search for therapeutic drugs: a review article.Cancer chemotherapy and pharmacology · 2025Review
- Antiproliferative Effect of Methanolic Extract ofMaterials (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Awareness, knowledge and belief regarding bitter leaf use: A cross-sectional study in Nigeria.PloS one · 2025Article
- Article
- Nigerian medicinal plants with potential anticancer activity-a review.Exploration of targeted anti-tumor therapy · 2024Review
- The ethyl acetate extract ofSaudi pharmaceutical journal : SPJ : the official publication of the Saudi Pharmaceutical Society · 2024Article
- Anticancer properties of medicinal plants and their bioactive compounds against breast cancer: a review on recent investigations.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2022Review
- Pharmacological Effects of Cisplatin Combination with Natural Products in Cancer Chemotherapy.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- Antihyperglycemic effect ofThe Pan African medical journal · 2022Article
- Ethnobotanical study of endemic and non-endemic medicinal plants used by indigenous people in environs of Gullele botanical garden Addis Ababa, central Ethiopia: A major focus on Asteraceae family.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Article
- Cancer and apoptosis: The apoptotic activity of plant and marine natural products and their potential as targeted cancer therapeutics.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2022Review
- TNF-α synergises with IFN-γ to induce caspase-8-JAK1/2-STAT1-dependent death of intestinal epithelial cells.Cell death & disease · 2021Article
- Breast Cancer: A Global Concern, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Perspectives, Mechanistic Targets in Drug Development.Advanced pharmaceutical bulletin · 2021Review
- Synergistic Cytotoxicity betweenEvidence-based complementary and alternative medicine : eCAM · 2021Article
- In vitro Anticancer Effects ofInternational journal of nanomedicine · 2021Article
- Phytochemical profile and antiproliferative effect of Ficus crocata extracts on triple-negative breast cancer cells.BMC complementary medicine and therapies · 2020Article
- Zoopharmacology: A Way to Discover New Cancer Treatments.Biomolecules · 2020Review
- The Akt pathway in oncology therapy and beyond (Review).International journal of oncology · 2018Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Breast cancer is currently the leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women globally. Notably, medicinal plant extracts may be a potential source for treatments of breast cancer. Vernonia amygdalina (VA) is a woody shrub reported to have not only diverse therapeutic effects but also anti-cancer properties. However, current research about the mechanisms of the anti-cancer potential of VA has been limited. This study aimed to investigate the mechanisms of action of VA that underlie its anti-cancer effects in human breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells). Results from MTT assay revealed that VA inhibits the proliferation of MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231, in a time- and dose-dependent manner. The underlying mechanism of this growth inhibition involved the stimulation of cell-type specific G1/S phase cell cycle arrest in only MCF-7 cells, and not in MDA-MB-231 cells. While the growth arrest was associated with increased levels of p53 and p21, and a concomitant decrease in the levels of cyclin D1 and cyclin E, it was shown that VA causes cell cycle arrest through a p53-independent pathway as tested by the wild type p53 inhibitor, pifithrin-α. Furthermore, this study revealed that VA induces apoptosis in the two cell lines, as indicated by the increase in Annexin V-positive cells and sub-G1 population, and that this VA-induced apoptosis occurred through both extrinsic and intrinsic apoptotic pathways. The apoptosis in MCF-7 cells was also likely to be caspase-dependent and not p53 transcriptional-dependent. Given that approximately 70% of diagnosed breast cancers express ER-α, a crucial finding was that VA inhibits the expression of ER-α and its downstream player, Akt, highlighting the potential clinical significance of VA. Moreover, VA exhibits synergism when combined with doxorubicin, suggesting that it can complement current chemotherapy. Overall, this study demonstrates the potential applications of VA as an anti-cancer drug for breast cancer treatment.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.