Anticancer effect of carica papaya in combination with cisplatin on non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell line (A549)

Cisplatin used in the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has significant side effects that are dose-dependent. In recent years, the use of tropical fruits has become widespread to reduce the side effects of chemotherapy. Carica papaya (CP) is a tropical plant and has many different medical effects such as anticarcinogenic, antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory properties. When the anticarcinogenic studies conducted on the leaves and fruits of the plant, which is one of its active components, benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC), are examined, it is thought that CP may be effective in the treatment of NSCLC. In our study, we investigated the anticarcinogenic effects of BITC, CP leaf and fruit extracts and their combinations with cisplatin in A549 and BEAS-2B cell lines. In this study, the effects of CP leaf and fruit extracts, BITC and also the possible effects of combinations with cisplatin used in treatment were investigated. The active ingredients of CP, BITC, leaf, fruit extracts and cisplatin were prepared at different concentrations and applied to A549 and BEAS-2B cell lines at 24 and 48 hour incubation times and IC50 values were calculated. Combinations were prepared using IC50 values found for cisplatin and BITC, leaves and fruit of CP and MTT process was applied. In this way, cisplatin was provided to show the same effect at lower concentrations. % viability values were calculated for the combinations. It was observed that BITC reduced viability up to 30% even at low cisplatin concentrations in combinations with cisplatin. Although a decrease in viability was also observed in the cisplatin combinations of ME and YE, no serious decrease was observed as in BITC. Especially the fact that BITC doubles the toxicity of cisplatin when used in combination will enable CE or its active compound to be used as a complementary treatment in the treatment. In addition, in our study, expressions of Bcl-2, Survivin, p53, p21, caspase 8 and caspase 9 and the Beta actin gene as a control gene were examined. It was observed that the activation of apoptotic genes increased and the activity of anti-apoptotic genes decreased.