Abstract
Natural products isolated from plant sources are well known for their pharmacological potential in diversity of disease treatments such as inflammatory or cancer conditions. Mango (Mangifera indica L.) and Juglans regia are thought to be rich of functional phytochemicals. To clarify the anticancer activity, aqueous extracts of Juglans regia (JR) nut and Mangifera indica L (MI) fruit were exanimated on chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) B lymphocytes and their mitochondria and the results were compared with those of normal B lymphocytes. Cellular parameters such as viability and caspase 3 activity, and mitochondrial parameters such as reactive oxygen species (ROS), mitochondria membrane potential (MMP), mitochondrial swelling, and cytochrome c release were evaluated. Our results demonstrated that the extract of Mangifera indica L increased cytotoxicity and caspase 3 activation through mitochondria pathway only in CLL B lymphocytes and also the extract of Juglans regia did not show cytotoxicity and caspase 3 activation on CLL and healthy B lymphocytes. Our in-vitro findings on isolated mitochondria indicated that mitochondrial ROS formation, MMP collapse, and mitochondrial swelling and cytochrome c release were significantly (p < 0.05) increased after addition of Mangifera indica only in cancerous mitochondria. These results demonstrated that Mangifera indica can act as a promising source for anti-cancer drug candidates by directly and selectively targeting mitochondria and inducing selective mitochondria mediated apoptosis on CLL B lymphocytes.