Secang (Caesalpinia sappan L.) Heartwood Ethanolic Extract Shows Activity as Doxorubicin Co-chemotherapeutic Agent by Apoptotis Induction on T47D Breast Cancer Cells

Abstract

Doxorubicin, primary chemoteurapeutic agent used for breast cancer treatment, is known to have various side effects included multi drug resistance (MDR) phenomenon. Therefore, exploration of co-chemotherapeutic agent is important to be conducted in order to prevent MDR. Secang (Caesalpinia sappan L.) which contains active compounds brazilin and brazilein, is proven to have activity as anticancer. The aim of this study is to determine the potency of Caesalpinia sappan L. ethanolic extract (CEE) as co-chemotherapeutic agent of doxorubicin and its mechanism through apoptosis induction on T47D breast cancer cells. Caesalpinia sappan L. heartwood powder was macerated with ethanol 70%. The cytotoxic effect of CEE alone and its combination with doxorubicin was analyzed using MTT assay. Apoptosis assay was done by flowcytometry-annexin V method. CEE showed cytotoxic activity on T47D cells with IC50 value of 35 µg/ml, while combinatorial test showed that all of combination doses of CEE and doxorubicin gave synergistic effect. Flowcytometry-annexin V assay proved that treatment of CEE induced apoptosis of doxorubicin. Based on these results, we conclude that Caesalpinia sappan L. heartwood ethanolic extract is potential to be developed as co-chemotherapeutic agent of doxorubicin.

The Effect of Brazilin from Caesalpinia sappan on Cell Cycle and Modulation and Cell Senescence in T47D cells

“…Our group has reported the cytotoxicity of ethanolic extract of C. sappan on T47D with the IC50 value of 35ug/mL (Nurzijah et al, 2012). T47D cells viability was decreased after treatment of brazilin for 24h in a dose-dependent manner (Figure 1).…”

“…were 35μg/mL and 68μg/mL, respectively (Nurzijah et al, 2012;Tirtanirmala et al, 2015). Brazilin and brazilein are the major components of C. sappan with a similar structure.…”

“…C. sappan (Sappan wood; local name in Indonesia is "Secang") is a well-known herbal plant in Southeast Asia (Nirmal et al, 2015). Previously our group observed that the ethanolic extract of C. sappan induced apoptosis in T47D (a luminal A model breast cancer cell line) cells and had a synergistic effect with doxorubicin in inhibiting the growth of the cells (Nurzijah et al, 2012). Brazilin and brazilein are two major bioactive compounds of C. sappan.…”

Cytotoxic and Antimetastasis Effect of Ethyl Acetate Fraction from Caesalpinia sappan L. on MCF-7/HER2 Cells

“…Several studies reveal the potential effect of Caesalpinia sappan L. and its compounds for cancer treatment (Kim, et al, 2005;Laksmiani, et al, 2015;Nirmal, et al, 2015;Nurzijah, et al, 2012) due to its major compounds. Brazilin and brazilein isolated from Caesalpinia sappan L. inhibit cancer cell growth through inducing of cell cycle arrest and apoptosis on cancer cells (Kim, et al, 2012;Tao, et al, 2011Tao, et al, , 2013.…”

“…Ethanolic extract suggest to contain too many compounds, whereas, brazilin and brazilein as well as other major phenolic compounds thought to contribute significantly in the cytotoxic effect against cancer cells (Kim, et al, 2012(Kim, et al, , 2005Laksmiani, et al, 2015;Nurzijah, et al, 2012).…”