Crataegus azarolus Fruits and Leaves Effects on Gastric cancer Cell Line (AGS) Growth, Migration, Colony formation, Apoptosis, and Expression, Levels of Some Selected Genes
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14500/aro.12397Keywords:
Anti-proliferative, Apoptosis, Crataegus extracts, Gastric cancer, Human adenocarcinoma gastricAbstract
Gastric cancer (GC) remains one of the leading causes of cancer morbidity and death worldwide. Despite enormous scientific progress, there is still a low success rate and a high expense and adverse effect profile for these treatments. These reasons have led researchers to look for alternative treatments, such as the use of natural plant materials. Crataegus azarolus, contains compounds with health potential and minimal side effects. This study was conducted to inspect possible antiproliferative, migratory, and apoptotic effects of C. azarolus fruits and leaves methanol and acetone extracts on human gastric adenocarcinoma cell lines (AGS) and human fibroblast cell lines. AGS cells were treated with different concentrations of methanol and acetone fruits extracts (10, 50, 100, 250 and 500μg/ml). Our results demonstrated that methanol fruit (MF) extract showed significant higher anti-proliferative at 500µg/ml concentrations, when estimated by MTT assay at p<0.001 with an IC50 values 300µg/ml. MF extract showed a significant (p˂0.01) cellular migration inhibitory effect. Clonogenicity of AGS was considerably (p<0.001) inhibited, resulting in a decrease in holoclone production in acetone fruits (AF) and AL extracts. Apoptosis was induced, with the highest 31.4% MF. EGR1 expression increased dramatically (p<0.001) in AF extract, while EZH2 expression increased significantly (p<0.001) when treated with MF and AL. PTEN and NDRG1 both were highly upregulated in MF and AF extracts, respectively. In conclusion, C. azarolus demonstrated anti-cancer effects on AGS cell line. As a result, C. azarolus might be recommended as a therapeutic option for cancer therapy.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Ali A. Mohammedsaeed, Trefa S. Mohamad

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Accepted 2026-05-14
Published 2026-07-24








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