Trigonella foenum graecum L. is a dietary herb used in traditional medicine system. In this study, we investigated the cytotoxicity, antitumor, antimetastatic and antiangiogenic effect of the steroidal compound, ethyl iso-allocholate isolated from T. foenum graecum L. seeds against A549 lung cancer cells in vitro and in vivo . Among all the isolated compounds, the ethyl iso-allocholate rendered the highest cytotoxicity potential. It showed least percentage cell viability in trypan blue assay and lowest nuclei count in hoechst staining. The caspase glo assay and western blot analysis showed the significant caspase 3 cleavage, indicating caspase dependent apoptosis. Consistent with the in vitro data, ethyl iso-allocholate showed highest percentage tumor growth inhibition i.e. 80 ± 5% in zebrafish, equivalent to doxorubicin. It significantly reduced angiogenesis to 5 ± 0.8% (**P < 0.01), compared to negative control group which was 60 ± 2%. The ethyl iso-allocholate showed 55 ± 3% inhibition in liver metastasis. To investigate the safety of the compounds on normal tissues, the percentage mortality was examined. The ethyl iso-allocholate showed zero percent mortality of zebrafish. These results indicate that the steroidal derivative isolated from T. foenum-graecum seeds induces caspase dependent apoptosis in cancer cells and reduces tumor growth, metastasis and angiogenesis in vivo , as well as it is safe on the normal tissues. The in vitro and in vivo anticancer studies suggest that the cytotoxic compound ethyl iso-allocholate has potential application in pharmaceutical industry.

Objective: To evaluate the cytotoxic potential of leaves and seeds of Hibiscus sabdariffa L., fruit juice of Phyllanthus emblica, rhizomes of Dryopteris cochleata and flowers of Caesalpinia decapetala (Roth) Alston along with the chemical profiling of the most toxic extract through Gas-mass spectroscopy-MS technique. Methods:The hydroalcoholic extract of the selected crude drugs was prepared by maceration method and the extracts were undergone through phytochemical analysis. The cytotoxic activity of the hydroalcoholic extract was performed against four cancer cell lines i.e. liver (HepG2), breast (MCF7), prostate (PC-3) and leukemia (HL60) using sulphorhodamine B assay. The hydroalcoholic extract of Caesalpinia decapetala flowers was profiled through using gas mass spectroscopy. Results:The results confirmed that Phyllanthus emblica inhibited HL60 cancer cells at the dose of 35.6 µg/ml and show dose-dependent growth inhibition. The flowers of Caesalpinia decapetala inhibited nearly fifty percent of HL60 cancer cells at very low dose i. e 10 µg/ml. The analysis of Caesalpinia decapetala flowers shows the presence of diterpenoid furanolactones, bufadienolides, polycyclic enones, and androsterone. Conclusion:The fruit juice of Phyllanthus emblica and flowers of Caesalpinia decapetala showed good inhibitory activity against HL60 cancer cell line. The use of Phyllanthus emblica in herbal medicine is justified. The data obtained impelled to further assess the in vivo efficacy of Caesalpinia decapetala flowers for anticancer activity.

Breast cancer is the heterogeneous disease and leading cause of death in women, worldwide. It is generally caused by the perturbation of various signaling pathways responsible for cell apoptosis. Due to genetic variability, different signaling pathways are disrupted in different breast cancer patients; so, to overcome this multifaceted condition, the personalized treatment is preferred. Since, various potential targets exist in breast cancer cells; it raised the need of new prospective of lead compounds. A large number of evidences show that, due to the presence of various secondary metabolites in plants, natural compounds are frequently examined for search of new bioactive molecules. This review includes the pathological aspects of breast cancer and the effect of natural compounds on breast cancer cells along with their possible mechanism of action. (Databases searched were PubMed, Science Direct, Web of Knowledge, Scopus, and Google Scholar).

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