ANTI-CANCER ACTIVITY OF AQUILARIA MALACENSIS LEAVES ON HUMAN CERVICAL CANCER CELLS

Fatmawati and Rachmat Hidayat*

ABSTRACT

Background: Recent studies have shown that anti-oxidant and herbal derivatives may be effective against prevailing high risk human papilomavirus infection but these leads are yet to prove their efficacy in preclinical and subsequent clinical studies. Aquilaria malacensis belongs to the, locally known as gaharu are reported to contain more than a dozen chemical constituents The stem of Aquilaria sinensis, another species of Aquilaria, reported to possess anti-cancer activity Moreover, the pesence of glycoside moieties like saponins, antraquinones, steroidal glycosides and flavonoids could inhibit tumor growth. Methods: The leaves of Aquilaria malacensis were extracted and fractionated to get fractionn-hexane, ethylacetate and etanol-aquadest. Cytotoxic activity of every fraction was assayed with MTT assay in HeLa cell culture. Phytochemical assay was done to explore chemical constituent in every fraction. Results: Fraction ethylacetate and n-hexane had the same potential to inhibit cervical cancer growth from concentration 15,63 μg/ml to 125 μg/ml. In the concentration more than 125 μg/ml, The potention to inhibit cervical cancer cell growth increased for fraction n-hexane but the potention decreased for fraction ethylacetate. The inhibitory concentration 50% (IC 50) for fraction n-hexane was 163 μg/ml. Conclusion: Our study therefore demonstrates presence of anticancer in gaharu leaves that can be further exploited as a potential anticancer.

Keywords: Aquilaria- Fraction – HeLa Cell- Anti cancer.