Antitumor effect of leaves of Ravenala madagascariensis Sonn., in PANC1 and SW1990 pancreatic cell lines

Abstract

Pancreatic cancer is the seventh leading cause of cancer-related deaths in developed countries with an average survival rate of less than 9%. Up to 80% of the patients with pancreatic cancer are found to be diabetic at the time of diagnosis. Leaves of Ravenala madagascariensis Sonn., have been traditionally used in the treatment of diabetes and was scientifically proven to be effective as an antidiabetic, hypolipidemic, renoprotective and antioxidant agent. In the present study, the antitumor effect of successive ethanolic leaf extract over two human pancreatic cancer cell lines PANC1 and SW1990 was evaluated by MTT assay. The shade dried, powdered leaves of R. madagascariensis, was subjected to successive soxhlet extraction with n-hexane, ethyl acetate followed by ethanol, concentrated and evaporated to dryness. The extract was subjected to preliminary phytochemical screening and was found to possess alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins, glycosides, phenols and tannins. The thin layer chromatography and high performance thin layer chromatography of various extracts of R. madagascariensis, was established. Based on the free radical scavenging potential, the ethanol extract was selected for further cytotoxicity studies. The ethanolic extract exhibited excellent cytotoxic effect against PANC1 and SW1990 with an IC₅₀ value of 12.58 µg/mL and 18.9 µg/mL respectively. Thus the results validate the antitumor potential of R. madagascariensis, leaf extract against pancreatic cancer and further studies were aimed at the identification of active components responsible for the activity.