Antiproliferative effects of Tanaceti partheni, Hypericum perforatum and propolis on HeLa cells

Tanaceti partheni, Hypericum perforatum and propolis have been widely used for centuries and are well-docu- mented medicinal plants and natural product. In this study, we investigated the antiproliferative effects of water extracts of ethanolic dry extracts of two different medicinal plants (Tanaceti partheni and Hypericum perforatum) and propolis on HeLa cells. The Tanaceti partheni extract exhibited mild cytotoxic activity. The IC 50 was 153.71 µg/mL. The extract of Hypericum perforatum did not show active cytotoxic activity against HeLa cells (IC50 >200 μg/mL). Regarding the anti- proliferative effects of Hypericum perforatum, our results are not in correlation with the results of other authors, prob- ably because different Hypericum species and different human cancer cell lines were used. The extract of propolis did not show active cytotoxic activity against HeLa cells (IC50 = 1.08 ± 0.01 mg/mL). The weak antiproliferative effect of propolis on HeLa cells is either due to the use of a low concentration of propolis extracted in weakly polar solvents, or the use of propolis collected in the autumn.