Anticancer activity of rice callus suspension culture

A multitude of natural products from plant extracts have been tested for their ability to inhibit the progression of several diseases including cancer. A novel approach of evaluating plant (rice) callus suspension cultures for anticancer activity is reported. The ability of different dilutions of rice callus suspension cultures to inhibit growth of two human cancer cell lines was tested employing varying cell numbers and different incubation times. A crystal violet assay was performed to assess cell viability of the cancer cell lines. Furthermore, microscopic analysis was carried out to determine the effect of the rice callus culture on the morphology of the cancer cells. Rice callus suspension cultures significantly inhibited the growth of human cancer and renal cell lines at densities of 5000 and 10000 cells/mL when incubated for 72 and 96 h. Rice callus suspension culture was more efficient than paclitaxel (Taxol®) and etoposide in selectively killing human colon and renal cancer cell lines compared with a control cell line (human lung fibroblasts). The use of plant callus suspension cultures is a novel approach for inhibiting the growth of cancer cells, which will lead to the development of new agents for selectively killing cancer cells. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.