Phytochemical Composition of<i>Cassia fistula</i>Fruit Extracts and its Anticancer Activity Against Human Cancer Cell Lines

Abstract

Cassia fistula Linn. (Fabaceae) fruit has been used in folk medicine and reported for various pharmacological properties. We evaluated the anticancer activity of C. fistula fruit extracts [ethyl acetate extract of pulp (EEP), n-butanol extract of pulp (BEP), ethyl acetate extract of seeds (EES), n-butanol extract of seeds (BES)] against human cervical cancer (SiHa) and breast cancer (MCF-7) cell lines. Phytochemicals analysis revealed that the EEP and EES contained anticancer compounds like 2(3H)-furanone, rhein, thymoland oleic acid. BES contained inositol and palmitic acid, whereas BEP contained inositol and 2-pyrrolidone. IC50 of EEP, EES, BEP and BES against SiHa cells were 415.5±0.19, 435.7±0.11, 535.3±0.32 and 580.2±0.41 µg/mL, whereas against MCF-7 cells were 422.2±0.32, 451.4±0.27, 564.5±0.21 and 575.6±0.47 µg/mL respectively (p ≤ 0.01). At IC50, EEP, EES, BEP and BES treated MCF-7 cells formed colonies of 17.5, 16.3, 22.5 and 18.8 % whereas treated SiHa cells formed colonies of 11.5, 12.8, 19.2 and 16.7 % (p≤0.03). Seeds and pulp treated both cell lines showed up-regulation of p53 and Bax genes, down-regulation of Bcl-2 gene and increased caspase-3, 7 & 10 and -9 enzymes activities. Also, the fragmented genomic DNA in pulp and seeds extracts treated SiHa and MCF-7 cells showed sign of apoptosis.We concluded that the fruit pulp and seeds extracts inhibited MCF-7 and SiHa cells growth and induced cells death by modulating the expression of apoptosis-regulatory genes and caspase enzymes.