The Potential of Moringa oleifera Leaf Ethanolic Extract as Anticancer Against Lung adenocarcinoma (A549) Cells and Its Toxicity on Normal Mammary Cells (MCF-12A)

Abstract

Moringa oleifera (MO) is traditional medicine with variety biological activities. M. oleifera as anticancer agent is due to its low toxicity to normal cells and high toxicity to cancer cells. This research aims was to evaluate the M. oleifera leaf extract (MOE) anticancer activities against lung adenocarcinoma cell lines (A549) and its toxicity on normal breast human cells (MCF-12A). The evaluation includes viability assay, intracellular ROS detection, apoptosis detection, and cells senescence detection assay. The viability assay was conducted using MTS cytotoxicity assay, and the senescence assay was carried out by Senescence Associated-β-Galactosidase (SA-β-Gal) staining. ROS and apoptosis detection assay were determined by flow cytometry using DCFDA staining for ROS detection and PI/Annexin-V staining for apoptosis assay. The results reveal that MOE have higher toxicity against A549 cell lines with IC₅₀ 1062.87 µg/mL compared to MCF-12A cell lines with IC₅₀ 1424.04 µg/mL. The MOE induces ROS levels up to 89.71±0.58 % in MOE 1000 µg/mL treatment. Furthermore, 15.32±0.33 % cells were late apoptosis and 48.69±0.10 % cells were necrosis after 24 h treatment by MOE 1000 µg/mL. The ability of MOE 1000 µg/mL to trigger senescence was higher in A549 cells (25.04±2.9 %) compared to MCF-12A cells (12.48±4.6). The results indicate that the MOE have higher toxicity against cancer cells compared than normal cells, and MOE can kill cancer cells through generating intracellular ROS levels, inducing apoptosis and triggering senescence in A549 cell lines.