EVALUATION OF ANTICANCER ACTIVITY OF JUSTICIA CARNEA

Cancer is one of the leading causes of mortality all over the world, prompting continuous search for safer and effective anticancer agents globally. Herbal medicine has gained wide popularity as medicines with less or minimal adverse effects. In this study, we evaluated the anticancer activity of a herbal medicine Justicia carnea, commonly known as Brazilian plume flower or blood leaf, belonging to Acanthaceae family, which has been widely used in folk medicine. We have evaluated Justicia carnea leaf extract against MCF-7 human breast cancer cell line. The cytotoxic effect of the extract was studied using MTT assay, while double staining with Acridine orange and Ethidium bromide (AO/EtBr) was performed to observe morphological changes associated with apoptosis. The extract exhibited concentration-dependent cytotoxic activity against MCF-7 cells, with an IC50 value of 237.13 µL/ml. The treated cells showed morphological alterations, including cell shrinkage and nuclear changes, suggesting the possible induction of apoptosis. Overall, the findings suggest that Justicia carnea leaf extract possesses preliminary in vitro cytotoxic activity against MCF-7 breast cancer cells and may induce apoptosis associated morphological changes. Further studies are required to elucidate its mechanism of action, establish its selectivity for cancer cells and assess its potential for future anticancer drug development.