In vitro antioxidant and anticancer activity of young Zingiber officinale against human breast carcinoma cell lines

BACKGROUND: Ginger is one of the most important spice crops and traditionally has been used as medicinal plant in Bangladesh. The present work is aimed to find out antioxidant and anticancer activities of two Bangladeshi ginger varieties (Fulbaria and Syedpuri) at young age grown under ambient (400 μmol/mol) and elevated (800 μmol/mol) CO(2 )concentrations against two human breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231). METHODS: The effects of ginger on MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cell lines were determined using TBA (thiobarbituric acid) and MTT [3-(4,5-dimethylthiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide] assays. Reversed-phase HPLC was used to assay flavonoids composition among Fulbaria and Syedpuri ginger varieties grown under increasing CO(2 )concentration from 400 to 800 μmol/mol. RESULTS: Antioxidant activities in both varieties found increased significantly (P ≤ 0.05) with increasing CO(2 )concentration from 400 to 800 μmol/mol. High antioxidant activities were observed in the rhizomes of Syedpuri grown under elevated CO(2 )concentration. The results showed that enriched ginger extract (rhizomes) exhibited the highest anticancer activity on MCF-7 cancer cells with IC(50 )values of 34.8 and 25.7 μg/ml for Fulbaria and Syedpuri respectively. IC(50 )values for MDA-MB-231 exhibition were 32.53 and 30.20 μg/ml for rhizomes extract of Fulbaria and Syedpuri accordingly. CONCLUSIONS: Fulbaria and Syedpuri possess antioxidant and anticancer properties especially when grown under elevated CO(2 )concentration. The use of ginger grown under elevated CO(2 )concentration may have potential in the treatment and prevention of cancer.