Cytotoxic activities of extract and fraction of agarwood leaves (aquaria malaccensis Lam) as herbal medicine on MCF-7 cancer cells

Abstract

MCF-7 cell is a cell line widely used in studied breast cancer. Breast cancer is one type of cancer that has a high prevalence in the world, including Indonesia. Agarwood leaves (Aquilaria malaccensis Lam) is one of the plants known to possess antioxidant activity. This study aims to determine the cytotoxic activity of extracts and fractions of Agarwood leaves (Aquilaria malaccensis Lam) against MCF-7 cancer cells. Agarwood leaves (Aquilaria malaccensis Lam) were extracted using the maceration method with 96% ethanol and followed by fractionation using n-hexane, ethyl acetate, and methanol: water as a solvent. Phytochemical screening test results Agarwood leaves extract (Aquilaria malaccensis Lam) contains alkaloid compounds flavonoids, quinones, tannins, saponins, steroids and triterpenoids. The results of thin-layer chromatography monitoring showed that the extract and fraction of Agarwood leave hexane had active flavonoid compounds. The extracts and its fractions were tested for cytotoxic activity against MCF-7 cell line using MTT Assay [3- (4,5 dimethylthiazol-2-yl) -2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide]. The results showed IC50 values for extract, methanol:water fraction, ethyl acetate fraction, and n-hexane fraction were 728.412 µg/mL, 505.026 µg/mL, 1881.482 µg/mL, and 144.458 µg/ mL, respectively.The n-hexane fraction of Agarwood leaves (Aquilaria malaccensis Lam) has the best cytotoxic activity against MCF-7 cancer cells and has the potential to be developed as an anti-cancer herbal medicine.