Curcumin, a natural compound from rhizomes of curcuma longa inhibits cell growth of liver carcinoma cells / Nur Shazwani Mokhtar

Hepatocellular carcinoma is the most common liver cancer form in adults. Curcumin, a non-volatile, yellow colouring agent, contained in turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) was claimed to have anticancer activities on most cancers, including liver cancer.The aim of this study is to evaluate the anticancer activities of curcumin from rhizomes of Curcuma longa L. on human liver cancer cells. In this study, two types of cell lines, HepG2 (human hepatocarcinoma) cells and WRL 68 (non-tumourigenic fetal liver) cells were used. Cells were plated in 96-wellplates and incubated in conditions of 95% 02, 5% C02, at 3 7°C. Five concentrations of curcumin extracts; 0.1, 1, 10, 100, and 1000 µg/ml were used and MTS assay was used to measure cell viability. Concentration response curve for ethyl acetate extract of curcumin and methanol extract of curcumin were constructed to determine the effects of concentration on cell viability and to calculate the median inhibitory concentrations (IC50) for each extract. IC50 for curcumin (MeOH) in HepG2 cells and curcumin (EA) in HepG2 cells were 125.3 ± 41.lµg/ml and 146.5± 52.0µg/ml respectively. While, IC50 for curcumin (MeOH) in WRL 68 cells and curcumin (EA) in WRL 68 cells were 224.3 ± 57.2 µg/ml and 263 ± 55.7 µg/ml respectively. The result showed that methanol extract of curcumin was having greater anticancer activity on HepG2 cells. This study can contribute to the development of more effective, safer and cheaper natural based cancer drugs.