Background: Extracts from plant and/or animal tissues are frequently used in alternative medicine as drugs or food supplements. Such extracts may contain a complex of pharmacologically or physiologically active factors but frequently there exists no experimental confirmation as to precise mechanisms of action. This work aimed to verify if a long used bovine blood extract Imuregen registered as a food supplement has desirable effect on tumor cells.

Methods: Two independent methodological approaches were used. Viability of cell cultures was evaluated using WST-1-based cell cytotoxicity assay. Cell growth was monitored in real time using xCELLigence cell analysis. Normal human adherent lung fibroblasts (NHLF) were used to represent non-tumor lung cells. A human non-small cell lung carcinoma cell line H1299 was used as a model of tumor cells.

Results: Our study demonstrated a direct influence on viability of the H1299 tumor cell line (p < 0.005) and a cytostatic/cytotoxic effect of the bovine blood extract after 72h. of cultivation while leavingnon-tumor NHLF cell line unaffected. The extract (0.1 µg/ml and 1 µg/ml, resp.) also significantly affected the viability of irradiated H1299 tumor cell line (p < 0.005, Co, 4Gy) compared to non-tumor irradiated counterparts. In addition to the cytotoxic effect, the extract slightly modified the generation time of the cells and substantial differences between the effects on tumor and non-tumor cell lines were observed.

Conclusion: The data presented here might suggest the extract intervenes into the proliferative cell cycle and subsequently influences the generation time of cells. Further analyses should be oriented toward the effects of animal tissue extracts on cellular systems defending against tumors and/or infections and intercellular communications that lead to influencing the fate of individual cell types.

Keywords: tissue extract; tumoricidal effect; generation time; H1299 cell line; NHLF cells