Bioassay-Guided Discovery of Potential Partial Extracts with Cytotoxic Effects on Liver Cancer Cells from Vietnamese Medicinal Herbs

Abstract

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most frequent type of primary liver cancer and is the leading cause of cancer mortality in Vietnam. Our study aims to discover the partial extracts with the potential cytotoxic effects on HCC cells from the different parts of 24 Vietnamese medicinal plants traditionally used in liver cancer treatment. Out of 52 crude methanol extracts, we found that Luvunga scandens leaves, Hyptis suaveolens roots, and Solanum torvum leaves showed the notable cytotoxic effects against HCC cells. After that, we carried out partial extract of the three methanol extracts with ethyl acetate, water, n-hexane, and 90% methanol. The cytotoxic activity on Huh-7 HCC cells, antioxidant capacity, and total flavonoids content (TFC) of each partial extraction were determined. Methanol, ethyl acetate, and 90% methanol extracts showed moderate to strong cytotoxicity activity against Huh-7 HCC cells. Notably, the ethyl acetate and 90% methanol extract from H. suaveolens roots with high TFC values and strong antioxidant capacity could be promising sources of novel therapeutic modalities for HCC treatment. For the leaves of L. scandens and S. torvum, the ethyl acetate extract showed high TFC value and promising anti-HCC activity, therefore recommended further studies.