Phytochemical and anti-cancer properties of Euphorbia hierosolymitana Boiss. crude extracts Yousef M. Al-Saraireh1*, Ahmed M.M. Youssef2, Ahmad Za’al Alsarayreh3, Tayel A. Al Hujran4, Sameeh Al-Sarayreh5, Jehad M. Al-Shuneigat5, Hamzeh Mohammad Alrawashdeh6 Journal of Pharmacy & Pharmacognosy Research Accepted: September 26, 2020 Available Online: October 2, 2020. Abstract : Context: Euphorbia hierosolymitana is a member of Euphorbia specieshaving a restricted use in traditional medicine in eastern Mediterraneancountries.Aims: To phytochemically analyze different extracts of Euphorbiahierosolymitana and to investigate their anti-cancer activity against apanel of different cancer cell lines.Methods: The aerial parts of the plant were extracted by n-butanol andethyl acetate. Each extract was subjected to Gas Chromatography-MassSpectrometry (GC-MS) to determine the bioactive compounds.Additionally, the anti-cancer activity of each extract compared topositive control doxorubicin was evaluated against a panel of differentcancer and normal cell lines by 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay.Results: Phytochemical analysis of the different extracts revealeddifferent compounds of alkane hydrocarbons, fatty acids, sterols,phenols, glycosides, alkaloids, indol alkaloids, terpenoids, pyridinederivatives, and desulphosinigrin. Regarding anti-cancer activity, the nbutanol extract exhibited a significant selective concentration-dependentcytotoxicity in the colon cancer cell line (Caco-2) compared to othernormal and cancer cell lines. This selective differential was comparableto the positive control, doxorubicin. The ethyl acetate extract, however,showed a significant cytotoxic activity among all the tested cell linescompared to the positive control. This cytotoxicity was in aconcentration-dependent manner and weak to normal cell line (Wi38).Conclusions: The selective differential in anti-cancer activity betweendifferent types of extracts is attractive and holds significant promise forthe development of new cancer therapies.