Objective: To investigate the anticancer activity of Polyalthia evecta (P. evecta) (Pierre) Finet & Gagnep against human hepatoma cell line (HepG2).
Methods: The anticancer activity was based on (a) the cytotoxicity against human hepatoma cells (HepG2) assessed using a neutral red assay and (b) apoptosis induction determined by evaluation of nuclei morphological changes after DAPI staining. Preliminary phytochemical analysis of the crude extract was assessed by HPLC analysis.
Results: The 50% ethanol-water crude leaf extract of P. evecta (EW-L) showed greater potential anticancer activity with high cytotoxicity [IC50 = (62.8 ± 7.3)µg/mL] and higher selectivity in HepG2 cells than normal Vero cells [selective index (SI) = 7.9]. The SI of EW-L was higher than the positive control, melphalan (SI = 1.6) and the apoptotic cells (46.4 ± 2.6) % induced by EW-L was higher than the melphalan (41.6 ± 2.1)% (P<0.05). The HPLC chromatogram of the EW-L revealed the presence of various kinds of polyphenolics and flavonoids in it.
Conclusions: P. evecta is a potential plant with anticancer activity. The isolation of pure compounds and determination of the bioactivity of individual compounds will be further performed.
Keywords: Anticancer activity; Apoptosis induction; Cytotoxicity; Hepatoma; Polyalthia evecta.