Meet the Expert RGCB Blog

Issue 3

09/22/2015

Inspired by nature Nature is an attractive source of new therapeutic candidate compounds, found in millions of species of plants, animals, marine organisms and microorganisms. The unique and very broad chemical diversity of medicinal plants and their extracts have formed the main basis for the treatment of diseases in the traditional medicine systems, which constitute immense potential in the search for novel medicaments. Traditional medicine upon scientific validation leads to the discovery of highly acceptable, non toxic natural products, compared to the modern synthetic drugs.

In this issue: Inspired by nature RGCB Blog recognizes the efforts of Anto et al in isolating a chemotherapeutic formulation from Wrightia tinctoria and validating its anticancer effects that were published in the article DW-F5: A novel formulation against malignant melanoma from Wrightia tinctoria in June issue of

Scientific Reports.

Ruby John Anto PhD Wrightia tinctoria Where we started Where we stand Where we head to

Ruby John Anto PhD

The gist of work

Ruby John Anto holds a doctoral degree in Biochemistry from Amala Cancer Research Centre, Thrissur. She started her scientific career as a Research Associate at RGCB in 1996 and strived her way up through commitment and perseverance. Currently, she is Scientist F, running Cancer Research Program-2 of RGCB with her team of research fellows and graduate students. Noted for her works on cancer therapeutic agents from natural sources, she holds a patent in a chemotherapeutic composition for cancer treatment.

The Team Reference

Wrightia tinctoria Wrightia tinctoria R.Br. (Family: Apocynaceae) is commonly called in different names as “Dantha Pala, Ayyappala, Sweet Indrajao, Pala Indigo, Dyer's Oleander, toothache plant and Jaundice curative tree” in South India and is known as Swetha kutaja in Sanskrit and Dhudi in Hindi. It is distributed throughout the world and is native to India and Burma. The name, Wrightia, is named after a Scottish physician and botanist William Wright (1740-1827). Different parts of the plant, especially the leaves, hold several medicinal properties, of which the skin protective properties are coming in the forefront. Several Ayurvedic and Siddha preparations from its leaves are used against psoriasis and various other skin diseases including herpes. Due to the anti dandruff property, its leaves have been incorporated as a constituent in different commercially available hair oil preparations and ointments, used in the treatment of various scalp and skin disorders. The bark and seeds are also effective against psoriasis and non-specific dermatitis.

Where we started “Wrightia tinctoria is known in Ayurveda and Siddha systems of Indian traditional medicine as a cure for various skin related ailments”

A research report published in year 2006-2007 mentions the use of different parts of the plant by traditional healers of Chhattisgarh for curing lung and breast cancer. These strong ethno botanical information available from the traditional healers as well as from the Ayurvedic and Siddha systems of medicine prompted us to check whether the plant leaves possess any anticancer activity. We started this work in 2007, with the support of an extramural grant from CSIR.

Where we stand now We have succeeded in isolating an active fraction from the leaves of Dantha Pala, which is found to be very potent against malignant melanoma, an aggressive form of skin cancer affecting the cells producing melanin and has only limited chemotherapeutic options. Although several other medicinal properties of the plant have been reported earlier, ours is the first study reporting its anticancer property.

Where we head to Work is progressing in our lab to identity the active molecule in the aliphatic fraction. Though we observed that several melanoma-specific molecules are down-regulated by DW-F5 and tryptanthrin, it is not clear which is the pivotal molecule regulated by them in preventing the growth and metastasis of melanoma. Hence now we try to elucidate the detailed mechanism of action of DW- F5 and tryptanthrin in melanoma cells using both in vitro and in vivo models. The chemosensitizing, antimutagenic and chemopreventive efficacies of tryptanthrin are also currently being assessed in our lab. Other aspects like evaluating the bioavailability and retention time of tryptanthrin have also been incorporated in our future plan.

The Team Dr. Jayesh Antony, my student, isolated the formulation christened as DW-F5 from this plant. The in vivo validation and mechanistic evaluation of the formulation were done with the strong support of Ms. Minakshi Saikia and Dr. Vinod V. The formulation was characterized with the help of Dr. M.S.R. Murthy and his group from IICT, Hyderabad and was identified as a mixture of tryptanthrin and an aliphatic fraction, both of which individually exhibit very strong cytotoxicity in melanoma cells. The patent for this formulation is pending approval.

Ref: DW-F5: A novel formulation against malignant melanoma from Wrightia tinctoria

The gist of work

“We observed that DW-F5, which has the ability to induce apoptosis in melanoma cells, inhibits all crucial melanoma specific cell survival signals. The formulation successfully inhibits melanoma tumor development in experimental animals and prevents angiogenesis and metastasis, two key events involved in the progression of melanoma tumor to distant organs. Both in vitro and in vivo studies prove that DW-F5 does not induce toxicity towards normal cells.”