Anticancer activity
of Illicium verum, Amomum subulatum and Parmotrema perlatum extracts against MCF-7
human breast cancer cell line
Pradeepa Muthurajan, Mahesha Vasanthakumar and Keerthana Manoharan
Res. J. Biotech.; Vol. 21(2); 87-94;
doi: https://doi.org/10.25303/212rjbt087094; (2026)
Abstract
Breast cancer remains one of the most widespread and lethal cancers among women
worldwide, necessitating the development of more effective and less toxic therapeutic
strategies. The study is aimed to assess the anticancer effect of combined extracts
of Illicium verum, Amomum subulatum and Parmotrema perlatum on MCF-7 breast cancer
cell lines using different assays. The ethanolic extracts of the spices were subjected
to phytochemical analysis. In vitro antioxidant analysis was carried out to ascertain
the effectiveness of combined extracts of spices compared to the individual extracts.
The cytotoxicity of the combined extracts of I. verum, A. subulatum and P. perlatum
was studied in the MCF-7 cell line by MTT, NRU and LDH assays. A variety of phytochemicals
including phenolics, flavonoids, alkaloids, tannins and terpenoids were found to
be present in the spice extracts. The combined extracts of the spices displayed
significantly improved antioxidant activities in vitro when compared to the individual
crude extracts.
The cytotoxicity studies on MCF-7 breast cancer cells indicate that the combined
extracts of I. verum, A. subulatum and P. perlatum exhibited cytotoxic effect in
a concentration-dependent manner where 300μg/ml, the highest concentration of the
extract tested showed the highest cytotoxic potential on MTT assay. The results
of the MTT assay correlated with NRU and LDH assays, all showing a significant cytotoxic
effect of combined spice extracts against breast cancer. This could be due to the
combined action of different phytochemicals present in the spice extracts that target
multiple pathways involved in cancer pathogenesis. These findings suggest that the
synergistic combination of Illicium verum, Amomum subulatum and Parmotrema perlatum
holds promise as a potent therapeutic candidate for breast cancer treatment.
