Preliminary study of the in vitro antiproliferative effect of clinacanthus nutans leaves extracts on the MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cell line

Clinacanthus nutans (C. nutans) generally known in Peninsular Malaysia as belalai gajah is used as traditional medicine. Commonly, the plant is used as antivenom, anti-inflammatory, analgesic and treatment for cancer including breast cancer. However, there is limited in therapeutic effect recorded for Clinacanthus nutans as an anticancer agent for breast cancer. Current research intended to evaluate the antiproliferative effect of C. nutans leaves extracts on the MDA-MB- 231 human breast cancer cell line by using the MTS assay. Four solvents; methanol, dichloromethane, ethyl acetate and hexane (1.56 - 100µg/ml) were used for extraction. The data showed that C. nutans in dichloromethane extract demonstrated the highest antiproliferative effect with an IC50 value of 5.75 µg/ml on the cell line. In conclusion, from this in vitro studies, all the C. nutans extracts may exert antiproliferative activity to MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cell line.