Selected medicinal plants exhibit selective cytotoxicity against breast (MCF-7) and rhabdomyosarcoma (RD) cancer cell lines

Abstract

Cancer is one of the most frightening diseases threatening the health of mankind, with poor prognosis and treatment. Current cancer
treatment options, though costly to develop, have not met expectations largely due to issues like recurrence, drug resistance, poor
accessibility, and serious side effects. This necessitates the search for new potent chemotherapeutic agents with high selectivity.
Therefore, Phytochemical constituents and cytotoxic potentials of four selected medicinal plants were investigated. In vitro cytotoxic activity of the selected plant extracts using MTT (3(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) colorimetric assay was carried out against human breast cancer (MCF-7) and Rhabdomyosarcoma (RD) cell lines. The selective index (SI) of the extracts was also determined using the Vero cell line. Indigofera nummularriifolia (INW) exhibited the highest inhibition on the growth of MCF-7 (IC₅₀ = 1.22 µg/mL) and RD (IC₅₀ = 6.51 µg/mL) cell lines as compared with the standard  reference drug, vincristine with IC₅₀ = 0.25 and 2.89 µg/mL on MCF-7 and RD cancer cell lines, respectively. Determination of SI 50 using the Vero cell line indicated that INW displayed a relatively high degree of selectivity against the cancer cells under investigation. These plants especially I. nummularriifolia exhibited cytotoxic effects and thus could contribute to anticancer drug discovery and many other disease conditions due to their phytoconstituents.