CARICA PAPAYA: ANTI-CANCER ACTIVITY IN MCF-7 BREAST CANCER CELL LINE

Cancer is the second leading cause of death globally. Among the group of cancer diseases, breast cancer is the most common type of cancer to affect women. The treatment options that are currently available for this include surgery, radiation therapy and therapy through medication or drugs. But, since all these are harmful and have severe side effects, drugs from natural plant compounds are being developed to act against cancer and its metastatic activity. The aim of this article is to perform qualitative and quantitative analysis of alkaloids in leaf extract of Carica papaya (CP) and also study the anticancer and anti-metastatic activity of it in MCF-7 breast cancer cell lines. CP, commonly known as papaya or papaw, belonging to the family of Caricaceae has many medicinal uses including dengue treatment, anti-inflammatory and anticancer properties. The leaf extract of CP was prepared by ethyl acetate extraction method. Various tests such as MTT assay, Wound healing assay, DNA fragmentation assay, Caspase 7/9 induction detection assay and Annexin V assay were performed to evaluate the anticancer and anti-metastatic activity of CP leaf extract in MCF-7 cell lines. The results of the tests shows CP has the required properties that acts against breast cancer with increased dose resulting in increased efficiency of CP on the cancer cells.