Inhibition of angiogenesis caused by caco-2 through hyperforin

The use of plants in treatment of diseases dates back to ancient times. A new anticancer drug derived from plants should be able to be obtained in large quantities and have sufficient anti-tumour effects and should not have toxicity so that it can be used as a chemotherapeutic agent.Angiogenesis is formation of new blood vessels from already available vessels and one of the most specific tests for angiogenesis is to measure three dimensional tube-like structures created by endothelial cells.It is expected that an anti-angiogenic drug inhibits only proliferation of endothelial cells of the tumour cells and thus prevents tumour growth.Phloroglucinol compounds, the leading element of hiperforin, are most found in St John?s wort. Many studies have shown anti-neoplastic power of hiperforin involving its anti-carcinogenic, anti-proliferative, pro-apoptotic, anti-invasive and anti-metastatic effects.The aim of this study was to investigate anti-tumour and anti-apoptotic effects of hyperforin on cells, to show how hyperforin affects angiogenesis in Huvec cells caused by Caco-2 cell lines and to reveal how hyperforin affects tumour cell proliferation and cell viability which play an important role in invasion of cancerous cells and metastases.We found that Caco-2 cells triggered formation of new vessels (tube-like structures) and that hiperforin inhibited this formation, prevented proliferation in Huvec cells induced by tumour cells and decreased viability of Caco-2 cells depending on its dose. In addition, increased concentrations of the conditioned medium obtained through adding various concentrations of hyperforin to tumour cell conditioned medium increasingly inhibited Huvec cell proliferation and higher concentrations of hyperforin increased the rates of apoptotic cells.It can be concluded that anti-angiogenic effects of hyperforin, found in the nature and having low toxicity, should be investigated, which can contribute to prevention and treatment of cancer in the future.