Cytotoxicity of eurycoma longifolia root extract on female adenocarcinoma cell lines

Introduction Cervical and ovarian cancers are lethal gynaecological malignancies among women in Malaysia. Eurycoma longifolia is widely used as herbal remedy and natural health supplement. It would be interesting to examine the effects of extracts from this natural product on significant cancers that affect the local health scene. The current study is designed to investigate the effects of Eurycoma longifolia on cervical (HeLa), ovarian (Caov-3) cancer and normal human ovarian surface epithelial (nHOSE) cell line in comparison with cisplatin. Methodology The cytotoxicity testing and half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of Eurycoma longifolia extract on HeLa, Caov-3 and nHOSE was conducted through MTT (3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide) assay. Result After 48 hours of exposure of HeLa to Eurycoma longifolia root extract, the IC50 value was detected at 942.5µg/ml while the IC50 value of cisplatin was detected at 5.94µM. Surprisingly, the IC50 value of Eurycoma longifolia root extract was not detected after 72 hours of exposure on HeLa while the IC50 value of cisplatin is detected at 6.77µM. For Caov-3, the IC50 value of Eurycoma longifolia root extract is 5.29µg/mL while cisplatin is 6.07µM. For nHOSE, there was no IC50 value detected in both treatment groups. The results from three cell lines represent the data from three independent cultures. Conclusion Eurycoma longifolia root extract has anticancer effect on ovarian cancer cells compared to cervical cancer cells and no toxicity on normal human ovarian cell. This natural product extract could be new alternative in treating ovarian cancer