POTENTIAL ANTICANCER COMPOUND FROM CERBERA ODOLLAM.

The cytotoxicity of the leaf of Cerbera odollamwas investigated against two breast cancer cell lines (T47D and MCF7), two ovarian cancer cell lines (SKOV3 and CaOV3) and a normal (Vero) cell line. The crude methanolic extract was subjected to liquid-liquid fractionation with ethyl acetate, butanol and water. Ethyl acetate fraction exhibited higher cytotoxic effect than methanol, butanol and aqueous fractions. Following bioassay guided isolation, 17ßH-neriifolin was isolated as a potential anticancer agent from C. odollam leaf. It showed potent anticancer activity with IC50 values of 17,21, 28, 32 and 24 nM against MCF7, T47D, SKOV3, CaOV3 and Vero cell lines respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]