Anti-proliferative and Pro-apoptotic Effects ofCaesalpinia bonducExtract and its Fractions in Estrogen-Sensitive Human Breast Adenocarcinoma Cell Line

A study was conducted to determine proximate analysis, apoptotic, and anti-proliferative effect of Caesalpinia bonduc against human breast cancer cell line (MCF-7) in an in vitro model. The MCF-7 cells were treated with plant extract at 10 μg.mL−1 for 48 h and dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) serving as control. The percentage of cells in the various phases was determined by flow cytometry. Results obtained from the flow cytometric analysis showed that chloroform fraction was the most active fraction against MCF-7 cells with 32.86 % decrease in proliferative phase. The apoptotic cells were calculated based on the appearance of the cells in sub-G1 phase. The result showed no significant pro-apoptotic effects in treated groups and control group. The finding suggested that the mechanism of cell death is probably through a mechanism other than the direct induction of apoptosis in tumor cell. The finding showed that C. bonduc extract at 10 μg.mL−1 induced anti-proliferative effect on MCF-7 cells by arresting the cell cycle at G2/M phase to prevent cell transition from G2 to M phase, thereby contributing less to cell division rather than DNA synthesis.