Cytotoxic Activity of Verbenaceae (Daniellia oliveri) & Solanaceae (Capsicum frutescens) on Breast Cancer, Prostate Cancer, and Colon Cancer cells

Secondary compounds are chemical compounds that are present in plants. These compounds are not essential to the life and functioning of plants, but posses many biochemical functions. They protect plants from infections from bacteria and viruses, and they are used for medical purposes, in many cases, treatment against cancer. In our study against cancer, plant extracts of Daniellia oliveri and Capsicum frutescens were tested to inhibit cell growth. Six cancer cell lines were tested using mammalian cell culture techniques. The six cancer cell lines were breast cancer (BT549, BT20, and MCF-7), prostrate cancer (PC-3), and colon cancer (SW480 and SW620). We determined the effects of Daniellia oliveri and Capsicum frutescens extracts on cancer by measuring the cell\u27s metabolic activity. We did so by exposing them to increasing amounts of extract and comparing the results with a control, which contained DMSO in place of our extracts in order to allow 100% growth. Alamar blue was used as an indicator to measure the cell\u27s viability in the presence of the extracts. The change in color from blue to red indicated metabolic activity of cancer cells. Upon incubation, data analyses from our fluorescence reader showed significant differences of reduction in cell viability in cancer cells exposed to Daniellia oliveri, while no significant difference of cell viability reduction was shown on cancer cells exposed to Capsicum frutescens , with the exception of SW620. Therefore, our data suggest that Daniellia oliveri, and high concentrations of Capsicum frutescens have potentials to be anti-cancer drugs