Potential Toxicity of Egyptian Ashwagandha: Significance for their Therapeutic Bioactivity and Anticancer Properties

Chemotherapy is usually given early after diagnosis in several cancer subtypes to offer best results. However, chemotherapeutic drugs are often associated with some degree of toxicities, which are caused by reactive metabolites generated by the biotransformation of anticancer drugs in the liver. Phytochemicals are dietary phytoestrogens that may play a role in cancer prevention and treatment. Forty percent of Americans use complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) for disease prevention and therapy. Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera) contains flavonoids and active ingredients like alkaloids and steroidal lactones which are called Withanolides. We hypothesize that the immune-modulatory and anti-inflammatory properties of Ashwagandha might contribute to its overall effectiveness as an anti-carcinogenic agent. Ashwagandha is one of the most versatile plants used in the traditional Indian medicine system (Ayurvedic). The goal of this study is evaluate the therapeutic bioactivity and cytotoxic effect of Egyptian Ashwagandha on hepatocellular carcinoma cell line (HepG2). The HepG2 cells treated by different doses of Ashwagandha root extract. The viability and cytotoxicity were measured by trypan blue and MTT assay. In conclusion Ashwagandh can inhibit cell proliferation and induce cytotoxic effect on hepatocellular cancer cells.