Screening on Anti-Proliferative Activity of Psidium Guajava Leaves Extract towards Selected Cancer Cell Lines

Abstract

Psidium guajava (PG) has been reported to possess an anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial and hypoglycemic activity. However, the information of PG as an anti-cancer is still limited. The purpose of this study is to determine the anti-proliferative activity of organic extracts of PG leaves against the selected cancer cell lines. The three cancer cell lines were cervical cancer (HeLa), breast cancer (MDA-MB-231) and osteosarcoma (MG-63). The PG leaves were extracted using petroleum ether, methanol, and water. For negative control cell, non-malignant cell Madin Darby canine kidney (MDCK) was used where areas cisplatin act as positive control. In this study, methylene blue assay was done to test the anti-proliferative activity of the plant extracts. The anti-proliferative activity was expressed in IC50 value. All of the organic extracts of PG showed no anti-proliferative activity on HeLa. However, petroleum ether leaves extract showed the most effective anti-proliferative activity followed by methanol extract and water extract to MDA-MB-231, with IC50 of 4.23µg/ml, 18.60 µg/ml and 55.69 µg/ml respectively. Petroleum ether extract also showed similar effects on MG-63 followed by methanol extract and water extract with IC50 of 5.42 µg/ml, 23.25 µg/ml and 61.88 µg/ml respectively. The petroleum ether leaves extract also showed the most anti-proliferative activity towards MDCK. As a conclusion, PG extracted with petroleum ether exhibited the most effective anti-proliferative towards MD-MB-231 and MG-63. However, this extract showed cytotoxic effect on non-malignant cell line (MDCK). Thus, the test on other non-malignant cells must be carried out to screen its side effect on normal cells. PG has the potential for anti-cancer agents especially for breast cancer and osteosarcoma. A further investigation on their molecular mechanism is worth in understanding the anti-cancer drug development.