Exploring Possible Anticancer Potential Of Some Plants Of Cucurbitaceae Family

Abstract

Today’s major concern among the public is cancer treatment. Herbal medicines play vital role in this context. Cucurbita pepo (CP, Pumpkin), Cucumis melo (CM, Muskmelon) and Cucumis sativus (CS, Cucumber) seeds are consumed as nutritious snacks. In the present studies, crude n-hexane and petroleum ether seed extracts of CP, CM and CS were screened for in vitro cytotoxicity activity against human prostate cancer DU-145 and human breast cancer MCF7 cell lines by Sulforhodamine B (SRB) assay method. Growth inhibition of 50% (GI50) was analyzed by comparing it with standard drug Adriamycin. The extracts did not show any activity when compared to Adriamycin at different concentrations (μg/ml) on both the cell lines. Thus, authors have attempted to provide importance to this family of the plants by subjecting them to anticancer studies. In future, new cell lines may provide relevance to these species and they can be actual put in therapeutic role