Cell Cycle Inhibition and Apoptotic Induction of Vernonia amygdalina Del. Leaves Extract on MCF-7 Cell Line

AIM: The research aimed to determine the cytotoxic activity, cell cycle inhibition, and apoptosis induction of the ethyl acetate extract of the African leaves Vernonia amygdalina Del. on the MCF-7 cancer cells. METHODS: The extraction of Vernonia amygdalina Del. leaves was done using the maceration method whereas the cytotoxic was performed using MTT assay. After that, the cell cycle testing and apoptosis induction were conducted using flow cytometry assay. RESULTS: The IC(50) values of n-hexane, ethyl acetate, and ethanol extract of Vernonia amygdalina Del. on the MCF-7 cancer cells were 206.211 ± 0.99, 50,365 ± 0.07, and 967.033 ± 2.68 µg/mL, respectively. The percentage of the cycle cell results in the G(0)-G(1) phase in the cell control with 72.08% decreased in the treatment with ethyl acetate extract 1/2 IC(50) with 62.58% and 1/5 IC(50) with 44.72%. For the S and G2-M phase, the highest percentage was found in the ethyl acetate extract 1/5 IC(50) treatment with 47.27% and 9.50% which were higher than the control cells with 23.26% and 5.90%. CONCLUSION: Based on the results, the Vernonia amygdalina Del. extract provides chemopreventive agent as anti-cancer. Our future study will assess the mechanism of ethyl acetate fraction in inhibiting angiogenesis and metastatic in breast cancer.