Breast cancer is one of the main causes of death in women. Cancer treatment with surgery, chemotherapy, and radiology often cause undesirable side effects. Therefore, alternative cancer treatment by using plants as traditional medicine was expected to reduce side effects. Nigella sativa is one of the plants used as anticancer empirically. This study conducted to examine the cytotoxic activity of Nigella sativa seeds and identify its components on T47D breast cancer cells. Petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate, and ethanol were used to extract N. sativa seeds. The extracts were tested their cytotoxic activity on T47D cell line using MTT method. The active compound was separated using column chromatography. Cytotoxic test on T47D cell line was perform for extracts of each separation stage. Data were analyzed by probit analysis to obtain IC50 values. Components identification was performed using GC-MS analysis. The results showed that chloroform extract has cytotoxic activity better than other extracts with IC50 of 124.206 µg/mL. The third fraction has cytotoxic activity better than other fractions with IC50 of 68.568 µg/mL. The GC-MS analysis showed that in the third fraction of the chloroform extract contain linoleat acid, the major compound and tryptamine.

In previous studies, Zingiber officinale, Piper retrofractum, and the combination showed cytotoxic activity, induced apoptosis, and p53 expression of HeLa, T47D, and MCF-7 cell lines. This study was conducted to investigate the cytotoxic and apoptotic activity of Zingiber officinale (ZO), Piper retrofractum (PR), and the combination as well as their effect to p53 expression on Myeloma and WiDr cells. The powder of ZO, PR, and ZO + PR combination (1:1) were macerated with 96% ethanol for 3 x 24 hours. MTT cytotoxic assay was performed on Myeloma and WiDr cell lines. Apoptotic cells were stained with ethidium bromide and acridine orange. Imunohistochemical expression of p53 was examined on Myeloma and WiDr cell lines. Doxorubicin was used as positive control in all assays. Results showed that ZO, PR, and ZO + PR combination had cytotoxic activity on Myeloma cells with IC 50 of 28, 36, and 55 mg/ml respectively and WiDr cell lines with IC 50 of 74, 158, and 64 mg/ml respectively, induced apoptotic activity, and increased p53 expression on Myeloma and WiDr cells. These results suggest that ZO, PR, and their combination induced Myeloma and WiDr cells in apoptosis through p53 expression.