Antiproliferative and apoptosis inducing potential of whole plant extracts of Sesuvium portulacastrum against different cancer cell lines

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Present treatment options include chemotherapy, radiation therapy, and surgery, all of which have side effects. In order to mitigate the side effects of these treatments, there is a need to look for combinational or alternative treatment, which is based on natural sources. Present study aims to screen the whole plant extracts of Sesuvium portulcastrum for its antiproliferative activity against various cancer cell lines. Different extracts of S. portulacastrum were prepared using ethanol, methanol, acetone, hexane, and diethyl ether as solvent. Their anticancer activity was evaluated against human breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-231), human neuroblastoma cell line (IMR-32), and human colon cancer cells (HCT-116) using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Propidium iodide staining method was used to observe the apoptosisassociated morphological changes under the microscope. Among the five extracts, diethyl ether extract showed the highest activity with IC50 values of 288.69 ± 6.53 μg/ml for MDA-MB-231, 231.01 ± 6.31 μg/ml for IMR-32, and 182.86 ± 4.29 μg/ml for HCT-116 cell lines. Our results suggest that the extracts of S. portulacastrum exhibit good anticancer activity against the different cell lines tested.