Evaluation of Anticancer Activity of Eupatorium adenophorum Leaves Extracts via MTT Assay and Further Characterization of Chemical Constituents Using Liquid Chromatography Mass Spectroscopy (LCMS)

Background: Globally, breast cancer is the most common malignancy in women and the second most common cause of cancer-related death among women. There is therefore a need to identify more efficacious therapies for this neoplasm. Therapeutic treatment of liver cancer has been also a great challenge. Use of herbal drugs in treatment of cancer has been a great choice for the researcher. Eupatorium adenophorum also known as Ageratina adenophora belongs to the family Asteraceae which is a new plant found with anti-cancer properties. Methodology: The successive extraction of the leaves was carried out using Petroleum ether (PET), Chloroform (CHCl₃) and Methanol (MeOH). The three extracts obtained were carried out for anti-cancer activity via 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5 diphenyl tetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay on breast cancer cell lines (MDA- MB-231) and liver cancer cell lines (HepG2). Result: Best anti-cancer activity was found in PET and MeOH extract in HepG2 and MDA-MB-231 cell lines respectively. Further characterization was carried out via Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (LCMS) in order to identify the chemical constituents responsible for anti-cancer activity. Conclusion: The LCMS data confirmed the presence of chemicals from polyphenol and flavonoid and fattyacid category in MeOH and PET extracts which could be responsible for inhibiting the viable cancer cells. This study indicates that MeOH and PET have better anti-cancer activity. So Eupatorium adenophorum can be the greater choice for the researcher in the treatment of cancer.