ANTIPROLIFERATIVE STUDY OF BRUCEA JAVANICA EXTRACTS AGAINST HEAD AND NECK CANCER CELLS

Abstract

Brucea javanica is a very useful plant for treatment of many diseases. In order to study the potential use of this plant, crude extracts of the leaves and fruits were assessed for antiproliferative activities against head and neck cancer cell line which is HTB-43. The dried and ground leaves and fruits of the plant were successively extracted using hexane, chloroform, methanol and water, respectively. The crude extracts were subjected to toxicity test using brine shrimp lethality assay. The chloroform extracts from fruits and leaves and methanol extract from fruits induced toxicity against brine shrimps with LC50 values below 1000 µg/ml. These results indicated that bioactive components presence in the crude extracts for its pharmacologic effects against head and neck cancer cells. Inhibition of growth of the cultured cancer cells line was measured using a standard Microculture Tetrazolium Technique (MTT) assay. Most of the tested crude extracts exhibited significant antiproliferative activities against the HTB-43 cell with IC50 ranging from 8.46 µg/ml to 47.25 µg/ml. The chloroform extract from the leaves gave the highest antiproliferative activity (IC50, 8.46 µg/ml). Methanolic extract of Brucea javanica fruit was selected as the most effective extract to inhibit the growth of head and neck cancer cells (HTB-43) by the two different assays used.