사철쑥 추출물은 정상폐세포인 HEL299 세포주에 $0.5;g/{ell}$ 이하의 농도로 투여시는 정상세포 생존율을 80% 이상으로 유지시켜 정상세포에 대한 안정성이 유지되었으며, 암세포 생육억제활성은 증류수 및 에탄올 추출물 모두 $0.5;mg/m{ell}$ 이상의 농도에서 유방암세포주인 MCF7에 대하여 88%이상, 폐암세포주인 A549에 대하여서는 모든 추출물에서 $0.5;mg/m{ell}$의 농도 이상에서 65%이상의 저해를 나타내었다. 또한 간암세포주인 Hep3B에 대하여는, 에탄올 추출물이 87% 이상, 위암세포주인 AGS에 대하여 증류수 추출물이 약 85% 이상의 높은 암세포 생육억제활성을 나타내었다. 또한 정상세포독성에 대한 암세포의 억제율을 나타내는 selectivity에 있어서 각 추출물이 $0.1;mg/m{ell}$에서 $1.0;mg/m{ell}$의 농도에서 1.5 이상의 수치를 나타내었다. B와 T 세포주의 생육촉진 실험 결과 배양 기간이 증가함에 따라 세포의 생육이 촉진되었으며, 배양 5일째 $0.5;mg/m{ell}$의 농도에서 B세포의 생장을 최고 1.2배 이상 증가, T-cell을 $1.2{sim}1.5$배 이상 생장을 증가시켰으며, 배양 6일째 에탄올 추출물이 IL-6를 $67;pg/m{ell},;TNF-{alpha}$를 물 추출물이 $68;pg/m{ell}$의 분비 하였다.
The immune activation and anticancer activities of the water and ethanol extracts from Artemisia capillaris Thunb. were studied. The growth of human hepatocarcinoma and human gastric cancer cell was inhibited by the addition of $1.0;mg/m{ell}$ of the water extract, by about 77% and 95%, respectively. The growth of human breast cancer cells was also inhibited by addition of $0.5;mg/m{ell}$ of both water and ethanol extracts by 88%. The growth of human normal lung cell, HEL299 was inhibited by 15% indicating very low cytotoxicity of both extracts. Overall selectivity of the both extracts on several human cancer cell line was over 2.5. The growth of both human B and T cells was enhanced up to 1.6 to 2.1 times by adding the ethanol extracts. The secretion of cytokines, $TNF-{alpha}$ and IL-6, from human B cells was also increased showing $68;pg/m{ell}$ and $67;pg/m{ell}$, respectively, compared to $35{sim}40;pg/m{ell}$ of the control. In terms of the immune activity, there was not much difference between water and ethanol extracts of Artemisia capillaris Thunb. It implies that the extraction solvent could not differ the biological activities of the extracts. Based on these results, Artemisia capillaris Thunb. can be developed into a potentially useful cancer chemoprentive agent.
