Biochemical characterization of Momordica charantia (leaf and fruit) and effect of soluble extract on MCF-7 breast cancer cell lines

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Abstract. Ansari AA, Singh J, Aminuddin M. 2019. Biochemical characterization of Momordica charantia (leaf and fruit) and effect of soluble extract on MCF-7 breast cancer cell lines. Cell Biol Dev 3: 1-5. Cancer is a serious worldwide problem targeted by various treatments, including traditional medicinal plants. One known medicinal plant is bitter gourd (Momordica charantia), which has been investigated for its anti-cancerous properties. This study was carried out to explore the biochemical analysis of different components of M. charantia (leaf and fruit) and the effect of alcoholic extract of M. charantia to investigate their potential effect on MCF-7 breast cancer cell line in comparison to cisplatin, a commercial anti-cancer drug. The different components (leaf and fruit) were separated, dried, and converted to powdered form. MCF-7 (human mammary primary epithelial cancer cells) breast cancer cell line was treated with different concentrations (8 - 800 µg/mL) of the soluble extract and cisplatin (all dissolved in DMSO and diluted in the incubating medium) for 48 hours. Initial time course experiments established that maximal cell death occurred between 24-48 hours. Cell viability (cell death) was measured using an established method. The results have shown that with the MCF-7 cell line, the extract at a high concentration (800 µg/mL) was more effective in killing the cancer cells when compared to cisplatin. The present results have clearly shown that the soluble ethanol extract of M. charantia, especially at high doses, can be used effectively to treat breast cancer.