Augmentation of in vitro cytotoxic potentiality of crude methanolic leaf extract of Olea dioica as a pivotal anticancer source

Abstract

Introduction and Aim: Tumor is the major cause of death world-wide, with an approximate 10 million fatalities in 2020, or almost one in every six deaths. The concerns with the current commercially available anticancer medications' low selectivity and persistent side effects have driven the research of safer and more effective chemotherapeutic drugs. The current work is focused on determining the cytotoxic potential of crude methanolic extract of Olea dioica leaves against various cancer cell lines viz., A549 (human lung cancer), HCT116 (human colorectal cancer), HeLa (human cervical cancer), MCF-7, and MDA-MB-231 (human breast cancer).
 
 Materials and Methods: The cells were treated with crude methanolic extract at five different concentrations viz., 25, 50, 100, 250 and 500 µg/ml to assess the cell viability.
 
 Results: The results from the assay performed for five cell lines have shown that methanolic extract of O. dioica has an exponential cytotoxicity potential on HeLa cell line followed by MCF-7 (IC50 value 81.05), HCT116 (106.86) and MDA-MB-231 with IC50 value 81.05, 106.86, 141.34 and 499.24 µg/ml respectively, whereas the A549-human lung cancer cell has shown no cytotoxic activity.
 
 Conclusion: The methanol extract of the O. dioica leaf could be recognized as a pivotal source of anticancer compounds, but furthermore research is needed to investigate the chemical components of O. dioica extracts that are mainly accountable for anticancer action and to expound more precise molecular processes of cell death.