Cytotoxic Effects of Moringa oleifera Leaf Extract on Human Hepatoma Cell Line HepG-2

Over the past decades, little attention is paid to using herbal remedies to improve various diseases, especially cancer. Moringa oleifera (MO) is one of the herbs with numerous medicinal properties.

The current study aimed to evaluate the cytotoxicity effects of methanolic leaf extract on human liver cancer HepG2 cell lines.

First methanolic extract of Moringa oleifera flavonoid compounds were measured, and then quercetin was identified as one of the flavonoid compounds in methanolic leaf extract by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). HepG-2 cell line were treated with (0, 30, 40, 50, 60, and 70 µg/mL) methanolic extract of MO, quercetin (50 µg/mL), and doxorubicin (1 µg/mL). After 48 hours, the cytotoxic activity of various concentrations of MO methanolic extract against the liver cancer cell line was assessed using an MTT assay.

In this study, the total flavonoids and quercetin in the leaves of MO was, respectively, 3.69 (mg/g) and 0.064 (mg/g) of dry weight. Methanolic leaf extract demonstrated a significant effect (IC50 = 12.89 µg/mL) on HepG2 cell lines.

Evaluation of cytotoxicity effects showed that HepG2 viability methanolic extract was concentration-dependent and decreased with increasing concentration of the extract. Comparison of the effect of the extract with doxorubicin and pure quercetin showed that the effect of the concentration of 70 µg/mL methanolic extract and pure quercetin and doxorubicin on liver cancer cells were similar. Also, the results showed that methanolic leaf extract has cytotoxic effects on the HepG-2 cell line and inhibits the growth of liver cancer cells.