Cytotoxic activity of Phaleria macrocarpa compound on MDA-MB 231 and MDA-MB 468 breast cancer cell lines

Abstract

Phaleria macrocarpa (Scheff.) Boerl (Thymelaceae), which also known as ‘God’s Crown’, ‘Mahkota Dewa’ has been reported to have anticancer properties. To date, there are various studies conducted on the crude extract of the fruit. However, there is limited information regarding on the cytotoxicity of 24-methylenecycloartan-3-one (triterpenoid) from Phaleria macrocarpa fruits in inhibiting the growth of breast cancer cells. The present study aimed to investigate the cytotoxicity effect on MDA-MB 231 and MDA-MB 468 breast cancer cell lines when treated with different concentrations of triterpenoid compound from Phaleria macrocarpa fruits. The MTT assay result showed that 4-methylenecycloartan-3-one (triterpenoid) exhibit high cytotoxic effect against MDA-MB 468 cell lines with IC50 value of 48 µg/ml and low cytotoxic effect against MDA-MB 231 cell lines with IC50 value of 100 µg/ml. Hence, it can be concluded that triterpenoid is more toxic towards MDA-MB 468 cell lines (p<0.01) compared to MDA-MB 231 cell lines. Based from this study, it showed that this compound from Phaleria macrocarpa fruits has potential in com-bating breast cancer disease.