Anticancer effect of underutilized fruits
Plants, particularly fruits and vegetables, have many phytochemicals that possess various bioactivities, including antioxidant and anticancer properties. In this study, the aim was to investigate the antiproliferative properties of Syzygium fruits, namely water apple (Syzygium aqueum), milk apple (Syzygium malaccense), and malay apple (Syzygium malaccense L.) against two types of cancer-origin cells, namely MCF-7 (hormone dependent breast cancer cell line) and MDA-MB-231 (nonhormone-dependent breast cancer cell line). Two solvent methods were prepared using aqueous and methanol extraction. Antiproliferation activities of these extracts were evaluated by employing colorimetric MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2yl)2,5 diphenyltetrazolium bromide) assay through time periods of 24, 48, and 72 hours. The result showed that extracts from the three fruits had no significant effects for 24 and 48 hours time periods (p >0.05) but extracts of Water apple and Malay apple displayed antiproliferation effects on MCF-7 cell lines (p <0.05) in 72 hours, also there were no effects on the non-cancer origin cell line. The methanolic extracts of the malay apple was more significant with 79% cell viability in the case of MCF7 (IC 50 =632.3 µg/ml). However, extracts of the milk apple did show antiproliferation effects on both cancer origin and non cancer-origin cell lines (p <0.05) in 72 hours. This finding revealed that fruits extract exhibit antiproliferative activity against MCF-7, which is strongly estrogen-dependant, probably due to extract compound responsible for its anticancer properties. Many studies had shown that plant polyphenols may prevent the metastasis of breast cancer cells through common pathway.