Karonda and Jamun seeds’ in vitro anticancer efficacy

Abstract

In the search for potential anticancer agents from fruits, the present research work was carried out to examine the in vitro cytotoxic potential of seed part of Carissa carandas (karonda) and Syzygium cumini (jamun) against nine human cancer cell lines from eight different origins namely MCF-7, T-47D (breast), SF-295 (CNS), HCT-116 (colon), A-549 (lung), MDA-MB-435 (melanoma), OVCAR-5 (ovary), PC-3 (prostate) and A-498 (renal). Methanolic extracts were used as test material and anticancer activity was determined via SRB assayat 100 μg/mL. Results revealed that seeds suppressed the proliferation of human cancer cells with growth inhibition range of 78-100% (karonda) and 71-93% (jamun). Karonda seeds exhibited 100% growth inhibition of A-549 and OVCAR-5 cancer cells where as jamun seeds displayed 93% growth inhibition of SF-295 cancer cells. The seeds were then evaluated at lower concentrations of 50, 30, 10 and 1 μg/mL in which seeds exhibit significant in vitro cytotoxic effect against lung cancer cells (A-549). Further, IC₅₀ values were calculated and it was observed that seed extracts from both the fruits showed IC₅₀<10 in case of lung cancer cells whereas karonda seed extract also showed IC₅₀<10 in case of colon cancer cells. To conclude, karonda and jamun seeds possess certain constituents with cytotoxic properties that can be used to develop anticancer agents especially for lung cancer therapy and to provide a great service to cancer patients, further studies are required for the isolation of active ingredients from these seeds.