Antiproliferative effect of Cherry laurel

Cherry laurel (Prunus laurocerasus) fruits including phenolic and flavonoid contents are consumed as fresh, dried or prepared in marmalade and its leaves containing cyanogenic glycosides have healing activity of a well-known Anatolian folkloric remedy. Herein, Cherry laurel fruits were boiled in water for 2 h then extracted with hexane, EtOAc and BuOH successively. Antiproliferative activities of extracts were evaluated on HeLa (Human Cervix Carcinoma), HT29 (Human Colorectal Adenocarcinoma), C6 (Rat Brain Tumor Cells), and Vero (African Green Monkey Kidney) cell lines. All extracts exhibited slightly antiproliferative effects on various cancer cell lines at high concentration. We assessed the ability of extracts of cherry laurel fruit to devastate the membrane of cells. Results indicated that cherry laurel fruit extracts slightly destroys the cellular membrane in tumor cell lines at high concentration merely. The results of this study not support the efficacy of cherry laurel fruit extracts as an anticancer agent for cancer cells, but it suggests that cherry laurel fruit extracts may be used through reducing cytotoxicity a potential adjuvant therapy to current chemotherapeutic agents. Fatty acids of hexane extract were also determined by GC-MS analysis and found out that linoleic acid, palmitic acid and oleic acid were the major products.