In vitro cytotoxic activity of Phyllanthus amarus Schum. & Thonn.

Abstract

Some bioactive compounds from plants are excellent sources of anticancer drugs. These natural phytochemicals are used in active research for cancer prevention and treatment. In our present study invitro anticancer activity was evaluated using dimethylformamide leaf extract of Phyllanthus amarus as its GC-MS analysis revealed many active principles which exhibited good antimicrobial and antioxidant properties. There were reports that anti-proliferative activity is always coupled with antioxidant activity. Anti-cancer activity of the P. amarus leaf extract was tested against HCT 15 and T47D cell lines and inhibitory effect on HCT 15 cell line was found to be greater than T47D cell line. With the increasing concentration of extract, the percentage of viability of cell lines was found to be decreased for both the cell lines. The anticancer activity of leaf extract of P. amarus is comparable to positive control drug doxorubicin. N-Hexadecanoic acid, lignans and polyphenol compounds in leaf extract may be responsible for the anticancer activity. These phytochemicals block cancer cell propagation by controlling cancer stem cells and can influence all the stages of cancer development effectively.