Anti‐cancer Property of Aegle marmelos Leaves: Finding the Facts Against Hepatocellular Carcinoma HepG2 cell.

Abstract

Aegle marmelos (Beal in Hindi) is commonly found in South Asia. The leaves and other part of plant have been used in traditional medicinal system like Ayurveda and Unani for treatment of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Present study was sought to find the facts for anticancer activity of methanol extract (ME) of Aegle marmelos leaves. GC‐MS analysis of ME revealed 1,2,3‐ Propanetriol was major component followed by Cinnamic acid methyl ester, 3,4‐dihydro‐4,5‐dihydroxy‐ 1(2H)‐Naphthalenone, Phytol, Nicotinamide, etc. After 24 hours treatment with ME, MTT assay was performed and found that 55.67 % of the cells were dead at the highest concentration tested (640μg/mL) whereas, the IC50 of ME was achieved at 512.38μg/mL. Up to the concentration 5 μg/mL the extract showed a growth supporting activity. As the cell viability was 7.55% more than that of untreated control. The induction of apoptosis was observed when HepG2 cells were treated with ME. Total 1000 counts were made and 231±14 (21.3%) cells were found to be apoptotic at 320μg/mL (IC40) ME. DNA bands and a streak in the ME terated lane suggest that there was DNA fragmentation in HepG2 carcinoma hepatocytes. By this preliminary study we conclude that leaf of Aegle marmelos may have an strong candidature to be the source of anticancer drugs. However this extract must be tested against other cancer cell lines before any firm conclusion.