In vitro anticancer potential of Sacrocephalus latifolius leaves extract and its fractions on human MCF-7 and NCI-H460 cancer cell lines

Sacrocephalus latifolius is one of the recipes used in traditional medicine for the treatment of cancer ailment in South-western Nigeria. This work was aimed at evaluating the extract and fractions of this plant against human breast (MCF-7) and lung (NCI-H460) cancer cell lines as well as their antioxidant activity. While the ant-proliferative assay was done using the SRB-assay for the extract (1-250 µg/mL) and fractions (1-100 µg/mL), the DPPH antioxidant assay was recorded at concentrations between 25-400 µg/mL. Against the MCF-7 cell lines, the extract and ethyl acetate fractions recorded growth-inhibitory activities at all concentrations with GI 50 of 73.02 and 63.38 µg/mL. While the chloroform fraction recorded cytotoxicities of -1.14 and - 6.19 % at 50 and 100 µg/mL with GI 50 and TGI of 43.18 and 89.70 µg/mL, the hexane and aqueous fractions were inactive. Similar pattern of activity was recorded against NCI-H460 cell lines with the chloroform fraction exhibiting a higher sensitivity with GI 50 and TGI of 24.12 and 54.50 µg/mL respectively. The antiproliferative activity was further corroborated by the higher antioxidant activity (IC 50 of 17.91 µg/mL), total phenolic (86.30 mg GAE/g) and flavonoid contents (72.74 mg QUE/g) of the chloroform fraction. The folkloric use of S. latifolius in the treatment of tumor ailments has been justified by this work.