Antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of Dandelion root extract (Taraxacum officinale) and its cytotoxic effect on MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells

Breast cancer (BC) is one of the leading causes of death globally, resulting in 2.26 million cases worldwide. Treatments to downregulate these tumor cells include surgery, immunotherapy, and chemotherapy. However, habituation is expressed by the tumor cells after using the latter. Different plants have been used to treat diseases ranging from bacterial infection to cancer. Natural health products confirmed to be potent and still undergoing clinical trials include the dandelion plant, also known as Taraxacum officinale. This study evaluated Dandelion root extract's (DRE) antioxidant, antimicrobial, and cytotoxic effects. The Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (GC–MS) result revealed the presence of bioactive compounds such as P-hydroxybenzoic, chlorogenic acid, vanillic acid, caffeic acid, lupeol, leutolin, apigenin, coumestrol and much more that are present in the DRE extract. Antioxidant activity using a diphenylpicryl hydrazine (DPPH) scavenging assay was employed, and the result suggested a stable radical IC50 value of 2.860 ± 0.001 mg/mL. Trypan blue exclusion assay was used to determine the cytotoxic effect on MDA-MB-231 cells. Antimicrobial activity was assessed by disc diffusion assay, and the average diameter values obtained were 25 mm for gentamicin. No antimicrobial activity was observed for the extracts at different concentrations. DRE showed no inhibitory effect against two gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria pathogens. Our study indicates that DRE has proven novel in killing breast cancer cells, has a mildly vigorous antioxidant activity to scavenge free radicals, and has no inhibitory effect against some bacteria. This study deals with the aqueous extraction of the dandelion root and its use in analyzing its cytotoxic effect on MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. The study also explored the antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of the plant extract. Different characterizations were carried out on the plant extract to test the presence of bioactive compounds in the plant. The study revealed that the plant has a potential cytotoxic effect on the cancer cells and validates the reason it is taken locally as an herbal treatment for cancer patients. The plant had less effect on the bacteria gram-positive and negative.