Anticancer Activity of Leaf Extracts and Fractions of Etlingera elatior (Jack) R.M.Sm. from North Luwu, Indonesia, using the MTT Assay Protocol

Cancer is a disease caused by abnormal and uncontrolled cell growth. Etlingera elatior (Jack) R.M. Smith is known to contain several compounds, one of which is flavonoids reported to have strong anticancer activity against various cancer cells. This study aims to test the anticancer activity of extracts and fractions of E. elatior leaves from North Luwu on several cell lines using the MTT assay protocol. Extracts were obtained from maceration using 70% ethanol and the crude extract obtained was fractionated using the liquid-liquid extraction method with n-hexane, ethyl acetate and water. The anticancer activity of the extracts and fractions was evaluated using the MTT method. The results of anticancer activity of Patikala leaf extract from North Luwu against WiDr, MCF-7, HeLa and Vero cells were 67.5 µg/mL, 213.5 µg/mL, 263.4 µg/mL and 592 µg/mL, respectively. The three fractions (n-hexane, ethyl acetate and water) also demonstrate activity against WiDr and Vero cell lines with the inhibitory potential of 214.7 µg/mL, 49.9 µg/mL, and 369.3 µg/mL, respectively, while against Vero cells the activity was 1626.05 µg/mL, 546.8 µg/mL, and 7574.24 µg/mL, respectively. The study concluded that patikala leaf extract showed moderate to weak anticancer activity against several cell lines, with selective activity against WiDr cells but was not cytotoxic to Vero cell lines. The extract and fractions showed anticancer activities against all the cell lines used, but the ethyl acetate fraction was the most selective exhibiting a moderate cytotoxic. Meanwhile, all the fractions were not toxic to Vero cells.