Cytotoxicity of the Urine of Different Camel Breeds on the Proliferation of Lung Cancer Cells, A549

Abstract

Objective: Cancer is a disease characterized by uncontrolled cellular proliferation and differentiation. Nearly all conventional cancer treatments have undesirable negative impacts, and safer chemotherapeutics would be advantageous. Consequently, the goal of current study was to evaluate and compare the effects of urine derived from two different camel breeds on proliferation of cultured human cancer cells. Human lung adenocarcinoma cells (A549) were cultured in the presence or absence of varied dilutions of urine obtained from two different camel breeds (Magateer and Majaheem). Within breeds, we compared the effects of sex and age of donor camels on urine cytotoxicity to A549 cells. After 48 hrs, surviving A549 cells were enumerated using the sulfarhodamine assay. A549 cell survival was lower using urine from Magateer versus Majaheem camels (84.8% versus 94.2% of starting cell number, respectively; n=20 for both groups, p<0.001). When evaluating the effect of camel age, urine from older Magateer camels was significantly more effective in inhibiting A549 proliferation than was urine from younger camels of this breed. An age-related effect was not observed for Majaheem camels. When comparing sex-effects on camel urine inhibition of A549 proliferation (n=10 in each group), we observed a trend towards more A549 inhibition using female versus male urine, in both camel breeds; however, this difference did not reach statistical significance. The present study confirms previous studies that showed that camel urine can inhibit the growth of cancer cells. It also provides the first evidence that there are slight differences in the cancer cell growth-inhibitory effect of camel urine depending on the camel breed, age, and, possibly, sex.

Keywords: Camel breeds, Urine, Cancer cells, Cytotoxicity.