Cytotoxic Activity of Combining Molecular Iodine and Dihydroartemisinin with Methanol Extracts of Carica papaya Linn and Vernonia amygdalina Delile Leaves against MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 Breast Cancer Cell Lines

Jadwiga Nowak^1*, Charles Wambebe¹, Jackson Mukonzo¹, Esther Katuura²

¹Department of Pharmacology & Therapeutics, School of Biomedical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University, Uganda

²Department of Plant Sciences, Microbiology and Biotechnology, College of Natural Sciences, Makerere University, Uganda

Corresponding Author: Jagodanowak@hotmail.com ; Tel: +256781703171

Recieved Date: 10 December 2020; Accepted Date: 8 February 2021; Published Date: 03 March

Citation: Al Nowak J, Wambebe C, Mukonzo J, Katuura E. Cytotoxic Activity of Combining Molecular Iodine and Dihydroartemisinin with Methanol Extracts of Carica papaya Linn and Vernonia amygdalina Delile Leaves against MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 Breast Cancer Cell Lines. Trop J Nat Prod Res. 2021; 5(3):485-493. doi.org/10.26538/tjnpr/v5i3.12 http://www.doi.org/10.26538/tjnpr/v5i3.12

Copyright:

© 2021 Nowak et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

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ABSTRACT

Carica papaya Linn (CP), Vernonia amygdalina Delile (VA), dihydroartemisinin (DHA), molecular iodine (I2) were reported to have antiproliferative and cytotoxic activities on breast cancer, but their anticancer effect once combined had not been explored. This study assessed the cytotoxic effect of combining I2, DHA, methanolic extracts of CP, VA leaves against MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell lines. Cytotoxic activity and cell viability of the plant extracts and combinations were determined using trypan blue assay with peripheral blood mononuclear cells(PBMCs) and doxorubicin (DOX) as negative and positive controls respectively. The study used SigmaPlot software to obtain IC₅₀ values and drug interactions were determined using the isobologram and combination index (CI)(Chou-Talalay method).The combination of CP + VA revealed the strongest cytotoxic activity amongst tested combinations and individual extracts with CI < 1 and IC₅₀ = 18.6 ± 2.5 on MCF-7. A combination of CP + VA + DHA with CI >1 was included in the study based on its possible multi-target mechanism of action. The cytotoxic effects of CP + VA, CP + VA + DHA were significantly lower when tested on PBMCs in comparison to activity against breast cancer cells. DOX showed higher cytotoxic activity on PBMCs when compared with the tested combinations. This study suggested CP + VA to be the most efficacious combination with strong antiproliferative effect on MCF-7 and lower toxicity to human PBMCs when compared to DOX. Each of the combination’s components was found to be less cytotoxic against chosen cell lines.