Comparison of Anticancer Effects of Hydroalcoholic Extracts of Camellia sinensis and Lepidium sativum L on HeLa Cell Line

 The antioxidative activity of green tea and garden cress extract is of interest in cancer.

 The current study aimed at evaluating the effect of hydroalcoholic extracts of Lepidium sativum (cress) and Camellia sinensis (green tea) on the culture medium of the HeLa cell line.

 Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle’s medium (DMEM) containing 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS) was used to culture HeLa cells, which was exposed to the different concentrations of green tea and cress extracts at 24 hours and 48 hours. Cell viability and apoptotic cells were quantified by 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide or MTT assay and propidium iodide, respectively.

 The highest percentage of growth inhibition (85%) was observed at 100 μg/mL of the green tea extract after 48-hour treatment. The percentage of growth inhibition at 24 h after treatment was 83% for green tea (P > 0.05). The high growth inhibition percentage of HeLa cells at 100 μg/mL of cress extract at 24 hours and 48 hours (49.8%) after treatment was 27.92% and 49.8%, respectively (P > 0.05). Additionally, the cell apoptosis assay indicated that green tea and cress extracts had toxic effects on the HeLa cells. This effect was highest at the concentration of 100 μg/mL and more evident in green tea.

 It can be concluded that green tea extract compared with cress had a more cytotoxic effect against cervical cancer.