Investigation on the cytotoxic effects of the methanol extract of clinacanthus nutans (burm.F.), mentha piperita (Linn.) and seeds of nigella sativa (Linn.) on HePG2 and chang liver cell line / Safia Azlan

Cancer is still a major public health problem around the globe with current therapies which lack selectivity and account for the other serious side effects. Plants play important roles as remedies even from centuries ago and plant derived secondary metabolites possess anticancer property. The in vitro anticancer activity of the methanol extract of the Clinacanthus nutans, Mentha piperita and seeds of Nigel/a sativa were evaluated against liver hepatocellular carcinoma (HepG2) and Chang liver cell lines. The fresh leaves of C. nutans, M piperita and the seeds of N sativa were air-dried and then soaked with methanol in ratio of 1 :20 (w/v) for 72 hours followed by subsequent evaporation to dryness process. The crude dried extracts were prepared in the concentration of 10 mg/ml by redissolving them in dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and the extract were tested on the HepG2 and Chang liver cell line which then subjected to the 3,(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5- diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MIT) assay for anticancer activity. Based on the results, M piperita extracts showed the best anticancer activity against the HepG2 cell line which followed by C. nutans extract and seeds of N sativa extract with IC50 of 9.9 µg/ml, 10.0 µg/ml and 66.0 µg/ml respectively. IC50 was not observed in any of the extracts when tested on Chang liver cell line indicates selectivity only to cancer cells but not normal cells. It can be concluded that methanol extract of all of the plants contain active ingredient with potential selective anticancer property.