Atlanta — A study focused on collecting and analyzing native plants from Ethiopia has shown potential in combating cancer, particularly cervical cancer cells. Thanks to a new collaboration, a research team at Georgia State University is contributing new insights to the scientific literature on these valuable compounds.
The ongoing research is a collaboration between experts from Georgia State University, its surrounding colleges, Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia, and Emory University’s Winship Cancer Institute.
Paulos Yohannes, a chemistry professor and associate dean for STEM/Research at Georgia State University’s Perimeter College, is leading this work as part of the Carnegie African Diaspora Fellowship Program (CADFP). The study involves collecting plant samples native to Ethiopia, recognized for their medicinal value, to test their effectiveness in combating diseases.
Yohannes says that while natural products are frequently used by practitioners in Africa, they often lack the necessary equipment to publish their research findings. The Carnegie Fellowship aims to pair African-born professors with African universities to strengthen research and teaching. Yohannes is the first faculty member from Georgia State University to be selected for this prestigious program.
Following early successes with the fellowship last year, Yohannes returned to Ethiopia to continue his work. He notes that many modern pharmaceutical drugs are derived from chemicals extracted from plants, and their medicinal significance in oncology is widely recognized. Bioactive chemicals, which are at the core of plant chemistry, may contain anti-tumor compounds such as flavonoids, tannins, curcumin, and resveratrol.
“Many medicinal plants have been used by traditional healers for centuries,” Yohannes says. “Preliminary research suggests that we are studying plant extracts with anti-cancer activity.”
Yohannes is collaborating with Dr. Wang Binghe, a board professor and distinguished scholar at the Georgia Research Alliance, to analyze these plants and their compounds. So far, the team has analyzed over 30 plant extracts from Ethiopia and found that several show activity against cervical cancer cells. Yohannes adds that Dr. Wang and his postdoctoral researchers and students have made significant progress, including discovering a new compound not found in existing databases.
An Ethiopian research team, led by Professor Ermias Dagne, who has been studying medicinal plants for 45 years, extracts materials from these plants for research. These materials are sent to Georgia State University in crude extract or isolated purified compound form for testing their disease-fighting effects. Cytotoxicity tests are conducted on HeLa cells (cervical cancer) to determine the half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC-50), which is the most widely used method for drug efficacy screening.
“There are two important aspects to this research project,” explains Dr. Wang. “First, we assess the biological activity of these extracts or pure compounds, starting with cell culture experiments. When searching for anti-cancer compounds, we look for those that have strong cytotoxic effects on cancer cells. Once activity is confirmed, we conduct a series of spectroscopic experiments to confirm the compound’s structure.”
The research team is investigating a plant compound from a species identified by botanists as a new species of Commiphora (myrrh tree), native to Ethiopia and growing in remote areas. This is just one of many promising medicinal plants.
The Director of the Mass Spectrometry Facility, Dr. Wang Siming, and the Director of the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Facility at Georgia State University, Dr. Du Zhenming, along with senior scientists, have conducted spectroscopic analysis on several compounds isolated from these plant extracts. Researchers there are working to interpret these findings, while experts at Emory University’s Winship Cancer Institute, under the leadership of Dr. Zhou Wei, are analyzing the anti-cancer activity of other samples.
Yohannes notes that four of the plant extracts show high activity against cervical cancer cells, as well as activity against other cell lines. “We have noticed interesting cell death pathways,” he says, adding that further analysis of more samples is underway.
“Eighty percent of Ethiopians use traditional medicine to treat diseases. We know these plants have medicinal value,” Yohannes says. “I am excited that this research will lead to extraordinary discoveries, which will encourage broader research.”
