Background
Colon cancer is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the world. Some patients develop resistance to chemotherapeutic agents, therefore discovering a novel anti-cancer agent is urgently needed. Myrmecodia pendans, sarang semut (local name), is one of Indonesia’s potential natural resources for cancer therapy that has been studied in some cancer entities. The aims of this study were to determine anti-tumor activities of sarang semut in colon cancer cell lines.
Methods
Anti-tumor activities of sarang semut were evaluated in Caco-2 and HCT-116 cells using MTT assay for cell death and inhibitory concentration (IC50), clonogenic assay for plating efficiency (%), and colony area per cell seeded (mm2) as well as serial trypan blue exclusion assay for doubling time and cell growth curve. Data were considered significantly different if p < 0.05.
Results
Survival of Caco-2 cells was prominently decreased by the n-hexane fraction of sarang semut than the methanol extract or ethyl acetate fraction. The IC50 of the n-hexane fraction was 24 ppm and 30 ppm in Caco-2 and HCT-116 cells, respectively. Moreover, the n-hexane fraction of sarang semut inhibited colony formation in Caco-2 cells, shown by the difference of plating efficiency (p < 0.05) and colony area per seed (p < 0.001) of control group compared with the treatment group. In addition, the n-hexane fraction of sarang semut triggered prolongation of doubling time of Caco-2 cells.
Conclusions
The n-hexane fraction of sarang semut demonstrates potent antitumor activity in colon cancer cells; in particular it inhibits cell survival and proliferation.
Legal entity responsible for the study
Muhammad Hasan Bashari
Funding
Fundamental Research Grant from Universitas Padjadjaran for MHB (no.855/UN6.3.1/PL/2017).
Disclosure
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.