Comparative Anticancer Efficacy Analysis of T. rufonigra, C. oblongus, A. gracilipes and Camponotus sp. of Ants: An in vitro Study

ABSTRACT: Insects and their products have been linked to medical cures from age old now. Among all the other Insects, Ants of the order Hymenoptera possess a wide range of bioactive compounds that have shown to have potent anticancer properties. In a similar fashion, the present study investigates the in vitro antitumor effects of Bengaluru-based ant extracts. Different ant species were collected from various locations in Bengaluru and identified as Tetraponera rufonigra, Camponotus oblongus, Anoplolepsis gracilipes, Camponotus species. Further, A 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazolyl2)-2, 5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay was performed on hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 after extracting the metabolites in 95% EtOH. The potential anticancer effect was again confirmed by Trypan blue cell staining assay using HepG2 (hepatocellular carcinoma) and MCF7 (human breast adenocarcinoma) cell line. Further, apoptotic induction was measured by Caspase-3 activity assay and different tests were performed to investigate the chemical composition of the extracts. All the crude extracts of ants have shown anticancer effects and increase in caspase-3 enzyme activity of Tetraponera rufonigra extract on hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 while Anoplolepsis gracilipes on human breast cancer cell line MCF7 makes them good candidate for further purification and characterization. T. rufonigra extracts have shown the presence of all the tested chemicals like alkaloids, flavonoids, reducing sugars, phenols, steroids and amino acids.