ANTI-CANCER AND ANTI-GOUT POTENTIAL OF SOME

INDONESIAN AND MALAYSIAN MEDICINAL PLANTS

Susi Endrini1*, Fazleen Izzany Abu Bakar2, Mohd Fadzelly Abu Bakar2,
Norazlin Abdullah2, Himmi Marsiati1

1
Faculty of Medicine, YARSI University, Cempaka Putih, Jakarta 10510, Indonesia
2Faculty of Applied Sciences and Technology, Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia
(UTHM), Hab Pendidikan Tinggi Pagoh, KM1, Jalan Panchor, 84600 Muar, Johor,
Malaysia
 INTRODUCTION
Extensive phytochemical
evaluations on different parts
of the A. muricata plant have
shown the presence of
various phytoconstituents and
compounds, including
alkaloids (ALKs) (3),
megastigmanes (MGs) (4)
flavonol triglycosides (FTGs)
(5), phenolics (PLs) (6),
cyclopeptides (CPs) and
essential oils
Soursop or graviola (Annona
muricata) has numerous traditional
medicinal uses in Indonesia, South
American and the Caribbean, and it
has become a popular nutritional
medicinal supplement (1).
Annona muricata is a
member of the Annonaceae
family (2)
However, Annona species, including A. muricata
, have been shown to be a generally rich source of annonaceous ac
etogenin compounds (AGEs)
(7).
The presence of different major minerals such as K, Ca, Na, Cu, F
e and Mg suggest that regular consumption of the
A. muricata
 A. muricata is proven to possess a wide
spectrum of biological activities.

Among all former studies on this plant, the

most promising activities are found to be its
anticancer, antiparasitic and insecticidal
activity.
 Pearl grass (Hedyotis corymbosa (L.) Lam.) has the synonym
name, Oldenlandia corymbosa, Linn or “rumput mutiara”
According to Kusuma and Zaky (10) the whole plant of pearl
grass can be used as medicine.
This plant has compounds
such as hentriacontane,
stigmasterol, ursolic acid,
oleanolicacid, β-sitosterol, Pharmacological studies found that pearl
sitisterol-D-glucoside, grass has the antioxidant, antihepatotoxic,
p-coumaric acid, flavonoid- antibacteria, immunostimulator and anti
glycosides, “baihua she she inflammation.
cao su” (coumarin analog),
iridoid glycosides, alizarin,
korogenin, and bonding
antragalol (11)
• Until now, cancer is still one of the biggest causes of death in the world and the number is
increasing every year (12) .
• In Indonesia, breast cancer is one of the leading causes of death for women.
• Most patients who have breast cancer detected at an advanced stage generally have
experienced inflammation in her breast.
• In this study, mixture (combination) of soursop and pearl grass (CSPG) was used to obtain
extracts that have anticancer effects and anti- inflammatory effects and also could be used as
an immunotherapy.
• The fractionation of soursop, pearl grass and CSPG were also done.
Gout

A common disease affected by most of Indonesian and Malaysian people due to the accumulation of uric acid in
the blood which triggers the formation of crystals, causing joint pain.

Orthosiphon stamineus

It is known as misai kucing (Malaysia) or kumis kucing (Indonesia.

Few pharmacological activities of this plant which include anti-stone,

anti-inflammatory, antipyretic, antioxidant, antihypertensive,
antiproliferative, antisebum, antibacterial and antiangiogenic activities
[4].
MATERIALS AND
METHODS

EXTRACTION
 CELL COUNTING

CELL CULTURE
 TREATMENT
PLATING
Xanthine oxidase inhibitory activity assay

The inhibitory effect on XO was measured spectrophotometrically at 295 nm under aerobic condition following
the existing method with some modifications [5]. Allopurinol was used as a standard.

Total phenolic content

Total phenolic content (TPC) of infusions were determined using Folin Ciocalteu’s colorimetric method as
described by Velioglu et al. [6] with slight modification.

Total flavonoid content

Total flavonoid content (TFC) of infusion was determined using aluminium chloride method as described by
Zhizhen et al. [7].

Statistical analysis
Values were presented as mean ± standard deviation. The IC 50 values were calculated using GraphPad Prism 7
software.
RESULTS AND
DISCUSSION
 CYTOTOXIC EFFECTS OF SOURSOP
AND PEARL GRASS ON MCF-7 CELLS
 As shown in Table 1, the treated cells with ethyl acetate fraction and methanol fraction in
comparison to the untreated control cells exhibited significant decline in viability, whereas the
n-hexane extract did not show cytotoxic activity.
Table 1. Cytotoxic effects of soursop and pearl grass on MCF-7 cells
• Moreover, the MCF-7 cells treated with methanol extracts showed cell growth
inhibition in time and dose dependent manner. The higher concentration of these
two extracts and the longer time of the treatment on cells, the more significant
cytotoxicity was achieved.
• According to Wall et al. [8], any plant extracts with an IC50 value below 20 μg/mL
can be considered as a potent cytotoxic extract. In other words, the smaller the IC50
value of a test compound, the more toxic the compound was [9].
• Cytotoxic effects of the combination of
soursop and pearl grass on MCF-7 cells

 The results showed that the combination

of methanolic fraction of soursop and
pearlgrass had a more potent cytotoxic
effect on MCF-7cells than the individual
methanol extract of soursop and pearl
grass. Thus, the combination fraction may
contain more cytotoxic compounds than
the single fraction (Figure 1).

 Previous study also showed that the

acetone extract of “Triphala”, a Figure 1. Cytotoxic effects on MCF-7 cells
combination of three fruits, Terminalia
bellerica, Terminalia chebula and Emblica
officinalis showed a significant cytotoxic
effect on MCF-7 cells rather than its
individual components [10].
• Based on a qualitative test using
sulfuric acid reagents, the
isolated compound of A.
muricata was found to be non-
phenolic compounds (Figure 2).

Figure 2. The chromatogram of the isolated

compound from A. muricata after the
fractionation
• Meanwhile, based on a
qualitative test using sulfuric acid
reagent and iron (III) chloride
solution, the pure compound
isolated from methanol extract
was found to be steroid (Figure
3).

Figure 3. The chromatogram of the isolated

compound from H. corymbosa after the fractionation
 Xanthine oxidase (XO) inhibitory activity
 The results were summarized in Table 2. O. stamineus showed moderate xanthine
oxidase inhibition at 100 µg/ml with 41.07% and IC50 value of 156.8 µg/mL.
 However, allopurinol the standard drug used for the treatment of gout displayed good
xanthine oxidase inhibition with 92.07% (Figure 4).

Table 2. In vitro xanthine oxidase inhibitory activity of Orthosiphon stamineus

water extracts
• This study was in line with the previous study where the methanol extract of O.
stamineus leaf showed XO inhibitory activity varied from 48.3% to 64.8% for different
sample locations in Malaysia. However, previous study showed slightly higher XO
inhibitory activity of O. stamineus than this current study. This might be due to different
sample location [11].

Figure 4. XO inhibitory activity of the plant

extracts
 Phytochemical contents of Ortosiphon stamineus extract
 Table 3 showed the results of total phenolic content of O. stamineus extract and it was quantified based on the linear
equation obtained from gallic acid standard calibration curve. In this study, the total phenolic content of O.
stamineus was 109.65 ± 1.24 mg gallic acid/g
 Meanwhile, the total flavonoids content of the plant was determined through aluminum chloride colorimetric
method and the result was 63.96 ± 0.89 mg rutin/g.
Table 3. total phenolic content of O. stamineus extract

• Based on previous years, many studies reported that the great effect of xanthine oxidase inhibitory activity of the
plants was mainly due to presence of diverse naturally occurring phytochemicals from diverse groups [12, 13].
 CONCLUSION
• We have demonstrated the in vitro cytotoxic activity of ethyl acetate and methanol fraction of Soursop and
pearl grass and their combination in human breast carcinoma cells, thus possibly suggesting a new potential
chemotherapeutic agent for the treatment of breast cancer.
• Meanwhile, Orthosiphon stamineus showed a potent anti-gout activity in vitro which might be associated
with the high phenolic and flavonoid contents present in the plants.
• However, further investigation on the anti-gout and anti-cancer potential of these plants using in vivo study
is still needed together with the isolation of the bioactive compounds which are responsible for its anti-gout
and anti-cancer activities.
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
• We gratefully acknowledge for the financial support of Ministry of Research and Technology and
Higher Eduction (Desentralisation-PTUPT) YARSI University 2017 as well as Universiti Tun Hussein
Onn Malaysia (UTHM) for providing internal research grant (Vot No. U758 and; H277) to fund this
research.
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