In vitro cytotoxic activity of Zaleya Pentandra L. Extracts against the breast cancer adenocarcinoma cell line MCF-7.

Objective: To evaluate the cytotoxicity of crude aqueous and ethanol extracts of Zaleya pentandra against oestrogen receptor-positive breast cancer cell line Michigan Cancer Foundation-7.

Methods: The study was conducted at the Institute of Chinese Medicine, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, from March to September 2017, and comprised Zaleya pentandra herbaceous perennial plant collected from Pakistani cities of Shakargarh, Lahore and Sialkot. Both aqueous and ethanol extracts were prepared in solvents following Soxhlet extraction technique. Rate of reduction in viability of cancer cell line was studied through MTT (dye compound 3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)- 2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay on the basis of time of incubation and the dose of extract. Analysis was performed using High Performance Liquid Chromatography with Diode Array Detector in order to found the compounds responsible for the death of cancer cells.

Results: Cell viability was observed to be dose-dependent (range: 16.7-37.4%) for aqueous extracts. Minimum inhibition concentration was 16.65% at 200μg/ml after 24 hours of incubation, whereas maximum inhibition was 37.39% at 3200μg/ml. Ethanol extracts showed less inhibition, with maximum inhibition being 25.29% at 1000μg/ml and minimum 13.57% at 62.5μg/ml. Certain polar compounds, like Hydroxytrosol and Tyrosol, could be obtained from the aqueous extracts only.

Conclusions: Zaleya pentandra aqueous extract was found to have potential benefit towards cytotoxicity of breast cancer cells.