Zakaria, Muhammad Asyaari
(2018)
Safety and efficacy evaluation of christia vespertilionis extracts on breast cancer cell lines.
Masters thesis, Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Abstract
Breast cancer is one of the common malignancies among women worldwide. There is
a constant demand for new therapies to treat this complex disease. Notably, scientific
research is drawing its attention towards medicinal plants as a potential source for
anticancer agents. Christia vespertilionis is a local herb claimed to have anticancer
properties. It is widely marketed as a food supplement in Malaysia thus raise an
awareness regarding their efficacy and safety. Moreover, current research about the
mechanisms of its anticancer potential is also limited. Herein, this study aimed to
evaluate the efficacy of C. vespertilionis extracts on breast cancer cell lines (MDAMB-
231 and MCF-7) and to investigate the mode of cell death that underlies its
anticancer effects. Besides, the phytochemical in CVME and heavy metals of the plant
were also investigated. The cytotoxic activities of CVME, CVAE and tamoxifen was
evaluated by MTT assay while the mode of cell death was evaluated by Annexin VFITC
and PI staining. The phytochemical and heavy metal analysis were investigated
by GC-MS and ICP-MS, respectively. Results from MTT assay showed that CVME
significantly inhibits proliferation of MDA-MB-231 cells line (p<0.05) and the effect
was selectively cytotoxic towards cancerous cells only. Furthermore, this study
showed that CVME induces apoptosis as indicated by a significant increase of
apoptotic cell percentage (p<0.05) when compared with untreated cells. CVME was
also found to contain numbers of pharmacologically bioactive compounds that possess
anticancer activities such as phytol and 10-undecenoic acid. Hazardous heavy metal
analysis revealed that this plant contains a high concentration of chromium which may
cause toxic side effects. Overall, this study demonstrates the potential applications of
C. vespertilionis as an anticancer drug for breast cancer treatment.
Actions (login required)
 |
View Item |
