Hypericum perforatum L.: An overview of the anticancer potencies of the specimens collected from different ecological environments

Hypericum genus holds an important place in the flora of Turkey with 46 endemic species out of its naturally growing 96 species. H. perforatum is the most popular and common species. This species has been traditionally used in pain control, wound healing and especially as antidepressant. Its anticancer effects have been lately attracting much attention. To investigate and compare the antiproliferative effects of extracts of the samples collected from eleven different "States" of Turkey. The antiproliferative effect of extracts was determined by WST-1 method on HeLa, U2OS, HCC-1937 cancer cells and MRC-5 noncancer fibroblast cells. Furthermore, cell death mechanism of the extracts was analyzed by investigating the cleavage level of caspase-7 and PARP-1, which are hallmarks of apoptosis and also the levels of LC3-II and p62 protein levels as markers of autophagy. Only HP10 (collected from Cankm-Ilgaz) was found to induce apoptosis both using immunoblotting and flow cytometry analysis, while almost all of the extracts cause the induction of autophagy in HeLa cells at their IC50 values. HP10 coded sample was collected from the transition zone between the Black Sea and Central Anatolian Regions, the collection area with highest altitude. According to our results different climatic features effect plant contents as well as their therapeutic effects. Moreover, the amount of compounds that have anticancer activity in the plant undergo a change with altitude.