Effect of Ducrosia flabellifolia and Savignya parviflora Extracts on Inhibition of Human Colon and Prostate Cancer Cell Lines

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Effect of Ducrosia flabellifolia and Savignya parviflora Extracts on Inhibition of Human Colon and Prostate Cancer Cell Lines

 

Alghamdi and Colleagues investigated the effect of Ducrosia flabellifolia and Savignya parviflora extracts on inhibition of human colon and prostate cancer cell lines. The authors demonstrated that the Ducrosia flabellifolia and Savignya parviflora extracts resulted reduced viability of colon and prostate cancer cells, but the study was limited to test the effects in vitro and lacks evidence on mechanistic aspects. In addition, it did not include qualitative and quantitative analysis of the extract components, which are important for the reproducibility of the results.  

As a minor point, statistical analysis is needed for some data, for example, in Figure 3.

For these reasons, I think that the further analysis and discussion should be done for the publication.

 

Minor points

 

1. Throughout the manuscript, more than a single font is used. For example, font used in figure 7 is different from other figures.
2. Graphics need to be in high resolution.
3. Label error in figure 8. Y-axis should be labeled as protein expression level instead of μg/mL.
4. Page 3, Table 3, MW column is unnecessary unless data is presented.
5. Page 4, Line 108, past tense 
6. Page 5, Figure 6, spell check for “Bcl-2/HCT”
7. Page 10, Line 308, spell check for “though”

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments

Since cancer is one of the most leading cases of death, and still there is no drug which can cure these diseases, searching out a potential candidate overcoming the drawbacks associated with the current treatment options, is highly demanded. In this manuscript titled “Effect of Ducrosia flabellifolia and Savignya parviflora Extracts on Inhibition of Human Colon and Prostate Cancer Cell Lines” by Alghamdi et al, the authors have demonstrated the anticancer activity of the methanolic extract of two plants namely Ducrosia flabellifolia and Savignya parviflora. The authors have carried out the systemic investigation where the anticancer activity was determined by the well established MTT assay while a series of assays namely apoptosis detection, cell cycle analysis, gene expression assay by western blotting were conducted to find out the mechanism behind the activity by the extracts of the plants. It is a piece of great work which is highly appreciate. Before accepting this manuscript to be published in the “Current Issue in Molecular Biology”, I would like to recommend the authors to address the following questions raised by me.

 

1. 1^st paragraph of the introduction is highly important. But here Authors have failed to present it properly. Could you please rewrite this paragraph?
2. First sentence of the 2^nd paragraph “The antitumor which extracted from ….? What is antitumor here?
3. “found that some species such as Convolvulus…..” words are missing in the beginning of this sentence. It seems the authors wanted to mention the name of the authors of the reference number 8 or number 8 has been used as the subject of a sentence. This has been repeated throughout the whole manuscript. I would suggest to follow up the other published articles how to write up using references.
4. The sentence “have the potential to induce apoptotic cell death so they can be used as an apoptosis-inducing anticancer agent for …..” need to be reorganized. The authors can not claim that “they can be used as an apoptosis-inducing anticancer agent ….”.
5. In the 3^rd paragraph of the Introduction need to change the words “exhibited a good performance”. Could you please use other word/s instead of performance?
6. In the 1^st sentence of paragraph 4 of Introduction “important components”…is not a proper word here. Could you please find out a suitable word for this?
7. An ethanol extract of Savignya parviflora with concentrations of 25 and 50 µg / ml inhibited the growth 52 of RAW264.7 cell line and it is promising to use as anticancer drug [15]. How can the authors confirm that this extractions promising to use as anticancer drug? If there is enough evidences, better to cite all the relevant references like results from different phases of clinical trials. Or the authors need to present like …X et al reported that that an ethanol extract of Savignya parviflora with concentrations of 25 and 50 µg / ml inhibited the growth 52 of RAW264.7 cell line which might be promising to use as anticancer drug.
8. The last sentence of the last paragraph of the Introduction needs to be changed. The authors can write.. Additionally, the molecular mechanism of the antitumor activity by these two extracts were studied by name of the experiments such as apoptosis analysis, PCR and others conducted here.
9. The cytotoxicity was tested after 72 hours of incubation with the extracts. Why didn’t you test for 24 and 48 hours?
10. How did you check the MTT assay? After incubation with control and drug for 72 hours, there must have some other steps till determine the optical density? The authors have missed to provide those steps. Could you please clearly mention all the steps for MTT?
11. In the discussion section, I suggest the authors to indicate the number of tables and figures.
12. Could you please rewrite the conclusion based on your assays and findings? You may follow the article by A. Mielanczyk et al.

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.5b00671 .

13. Could you please convert the table 2 into linear graph like Figure2?
14. The authors have not provided the frequency of experimental condition. For example, Table3, Figure 1, Figure 2, 5, 6 and 8 there is errors value but not mentioned the value of n to obtain the error%. I strongly recommend providing this information.
15. To explain or how to introduce the apoptosis and cell cycle analysis for presentation results and discussion, I would like to recommend to follow the article published by A. Mielanczyk et al. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.5b00671 .
16. Under the materials and method section, the Authors need to write the information of all reagents used here. For better understanding, I would suggest following the materials section by A. Mielanczyk et al. https://pubs.acs.org/doi/pdf/10.1021/acs.bioconjchem.5b00671 .

 

Author Response

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Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

I appreciate authors' response. However, the manuscript was not improved at all, except some minor points. I think it requires mechanistic aspect about 'why the extract induced apoptotic cell death'.

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 3

Reviewer 1 Report

The revised version still lacks molecular mechanisms by which the extract induced apoptosis, unfortunately. 

Author Response

Respond to Review1

The revised version still lacks molecular mechanisms by which the extract induced apoptosis, unfortunately.

• As we understand; the mechanistic aspect and the molecular mechanism were explained in the discussion section of the manuscript and highlighted in red color.
• If you have any more suggestions about that, we will be appreciate to know.

 

Author Response File: Author Response.docx