Abstract
Moringa oleifera Lam. (MO) is a medicinal plant distributed across the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. MO has been used in the traditional treatment of various diseases including cancer. This study aimed to perform bioassay-guided fractionation and identification of bioactive compounds from MO leaf against MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. MO leaf was sequentially extracted with hexane, ethyl acetate (EtOAc), and ethanol. The most effective extract was subjected to fractionation. MO extract and its derived fractions were continuously screened for anti-cancer activities. The strongest fraction was selected for re-fractionation and identification of bioactive compounds using LC-ESI-QTOF-MS/MS analysis. The best anticancer activities were related to the fraction no. 7-derived crude EtOAc extract. This fraction significantly reduced cell viability and clonogenic growth and increased cells apoptosis. Moreover, sub-fraction no. 7.7-derived fraction no. 7 was selected for the identification of bioactive compounds. There were 10 candidate compounds tentatively identified by LC-ESI-QTOF-MS. Three of identified compounds (7-octenoic acid, oleamide, and 1-phenyl-2-pentanol) showed anticancer activities by inducing cell cycle arrest and triggering apoptosis through suppressed Bcl-2 expression which subsequently promotes activation of caspase 3, indicators for the apoptosis pathway. This study identified 10 candidate compounds that may have potential in the field of anticancer substances.
Highlights
Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in women and is one of the leading causes of cancer death for women
To compare the cytotoxic effects of crude MO leaves (MOL) extracts, MDA-MB-231 cells were plated into 96-well plates and incubated with serial concentrations of the crude hexane, crude EtOAc, and crude ethanolic (EtOH) extracts for 24 h
As oleamide exhibited notable anticancer effects against MDA-MB-231, we further investigated the effect of oleamide on two different cancer cell lines, including human myelogenous leukemia cell K562 and human squamous cell carcinoma lines SCC-15
Summary
Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in women and is one of the leading causes of cancer death for women. Over 1.3 million cases of invasive breast cancer are diagnosed and more than 450,000 women die from breast cancer annually [1,2]. 10–20% of invasive breast cancers are triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) which is defined as the absence of estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and human epidermal growth factor receptor (HER) 2 [3]. Due to lack of targeted therapy, radiotherapy and chemotherapy remain the only recommended option for TNBC [3,5,6]. It is urgent to develop new alternative therapies for TNBC
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
