Induction of apoptosis is a primary mechanism of
anticancer activity of several drugs using for cancer therapy. Apoptosis-inducing activity of Bacillus pumilus ribonuclease (binase) and stem bark aqueous extracts of eight medicinal plants from Egypt in human A549 alveolar adenocarcinoma cells was studied. It was shown that binase (300 μg/ml) significantly increases the portion of apoptic cells in population
after 24 h. Extracts of Albizzia lebbeck and
Bauhinia variegate demonstrated a clear dose-dependent apoptosis-inducing effect. Combined treatment of A549 cells with binase and stem bark aqueous extracts of Albizzia lebbeck, Bauhinia
variegate, Kigelia africana enhances induction of apoptosis in comparison with binase and extracts alone. Results obtained allow to consider combination of binase and stem bark aqueous extracts of
Albizzia lebbeck, Bauhinia variegate, Kigelia africana as a source for development of low toxic,
natural drugs to induce apoptosis in tumor cells.