Pharmacological Properties of White Mulberry (Morus alba L.) Leaves: Suppressing Migratory and Invasive Activities Against A549 Lung Cancer Cells

Morus alba known as a white mulberry is a medicinal plant that has been used in food ingredients and traditional medicine. M. alba leaves contain various bioactive phenolic compounds, in particular chlorogenic acid (CGA), which is a major bioactive ingredient. Their anticancer potency of M. alba leaf extracts derived from Soxhlet extraction was evaluated based on cytotoxicity and antimigratory and antiinvasive properties. The dichloromethane extract exhibited the highest nitric oxide radical scavenging activity with a half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC₅₀) value of 780 μg/mL, promising cytotoxicity against HuCCA-1, MCF-7, and A-549 cells with IC₅₀ values of 59.18, 62.20, and 103.25 μg/mL, respectively. CGA selectively inhibited the growth of MCF-7 cells with an IC₅₀ value of 26.75 μg/mL and showed potent radical scavenging activity against DPPH radicals (IC₅₀ = 18.85 μg/mL). An ethanolic extract derived from the gradient Soxhlet extraction suppressed A549 lung cancer cell migration and invasion more effectively than CGA with no migratory inhibition effect on noncancerous HaCaT cells. Furthermore, the ethanolic extract and CGA accelerated HaCaT wound closure at 20 µg/mL, which was the same as allantoin. Bioactive ingredients including triterpenes, steroids, phenolics, and flavonoids were mainly detected in all extracts. The highest content of CGA (52.23 g/100 g dry weight) was found in the ethanolic extract derived from the gradient Soxhlet extraction. These findings show the potency of the dichloromethane extract as a cytotoxic agent against various cancer types and the ethanolic extract as an antimetastatic agent by their antimigratory and antiinvasive activities.

Graphical Abstract