Anticancer Effects of Rutin, Rhein, and Their Combination on A549 Lung Cancer Cells

Lung cancer is a major concern in northern Thailand. Although rutin and rhein have shown cytotoxic effects against A549 lung cancer cells, their comparative anticancer activities remain unexplored. This study aimed to compare the anticancer effects of rutin and rhein on A549 cancer cells. The effects of rutin and rhein on cytotoxicity, colony formation, cell migration, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production were evaluated using sulforhodamine B (SRB), clonogenic, scratch wound healing assays, and dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (DCF-DA) flow cytometry, respectively. All experiments used a non-treated control group. At 24–72 hours, rutin and rhein exhibited dose- and time-dependent cytotoxicity against A549 cells, with effective concentrations of 0–2,500 μg/mL and 0–50 μg/mL, respectively. The results demonstrated that rhein exhibited greater cytotoxicity (IC50 = 2.70 μg/mL) compared to rutin (IC50 = 817.10 μg/mL) after 72 hours of incubation. It was found that rutin decreased colony formation, slowed down migration, and increased ROS production in A549 cells at doses ranging from 0 to 2,500 μg/mL. When rhein was added to A549 cells at doses ranging from 0 to 50 μg/mL, it inhibited colony formation, slow down migration, and enhanced ROS production. According to the results, rhein is more effective than rutin at killing A549 cancer cells. This suggests that it could be used as an anticancer drug to both prevent and treat lung cancer. The combination of rhein and rutin has the potential to be beneficial in the treatment of lung cancer.