Antimetastatic potential of anthocyanins from Cordyline australis (G. Forst.) Endl. Red star variety on MCF onco cell lines

Breast cancer is the second most deadly diagnosed lifestyle disease among women. Surgery and chemotherapy are the current treatments of choice; nevertheless, toxicity connected with this underscores the urgency of the demand for the human-friendly drug. 50% of current synthetic drugs available commercially today are either direct or indirect descendants extracted from herbs. Anthocyanins possess many pharmacological activities, including anticancer potential. However, no study on anticancer activity of anthocyanins from Cordyline australis has been reported. Anthocyanins were extracted from fresh leaves using ethanol as solvent. The total anthocyanin was quantified and fractionated by Ultra Performance Liquid Chromatography. Cytotoxicitic effect was carried on diverse cancer cell lines like MCF 7, HCT-116, Caco-2 and SW480 using MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide assay. Based on MTT data, MCF 7 cells were further analyzed by LDH assay, Glutathione-S- transferase (GST), Quercetin reductase, Cytochrome P450 and Caspase 3, 8 and 9 activities. The obtained results were analyzed using ANOVA with a level of significance. Results obtained from MTT assay revealed that the anthocyanin extract carried significant toxic (p < 0.05) specificity against MCF 7 cells (65 ± 2.1 toxicity at 50 µg/ml) when compared to the other onco cells. Remarkable LDH leakage (50.2% vs 50 µg/ml), GST (3.0±0.002 U/mg protein), QR (4.4±0.054 U/mg protein), Cyt P450 activities (0.291±0.01 U/mg protein) were noticed. Caspase 3 (157%), 8 (142%) and 9 (147%) displayed profound activities. These in vitro findings of specific anticancer effects noticed on C. australis anthocyanin extract require further evaluation using animal models. Finally, the obtained findings open up the possibility of developing a lead antimetastatic anthocyanin candidate against deadly breast cancer.