Abstract
BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in women. Chemotherapy is one of the treatment modalities with many side effects. This study aimed to evaluate the anticancer activity of soluble ethyl acetate partition of Chromolaena odorata (C. odorata) leaves on HeLa cells of cervical cancer. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The cytotoxicity activity of the soluble ethyl acetate extract of the C. odorata leaves was analyzed by MTT colorimetry assay. The apoptosis activity was determined by double staining and flow cytometry techniques. Doubling time assay was used to observed HeLa cells proliferation. RESULTS: The IC50 of soluble ethyl acetate partition of this plant was 82.41± 6.73 µg/ml against HeLa cells. The apoptosis activity showed that HeLa cells underwent morphological changes in dose-dependent manner while the highest number of dead cells was observed after treatment with 500 µg/ml of the partition. Flow cytometry analysis showed that treatment with IC50 and 2x IC50 resulted in death of more than 97% cells (p-value <0.05 in both comparisons). Proliferation of HeLa cells was also inhibited following treatment with ½ IC50, IC50, and 2xIC50 in the first 24 hours (p-value <0.05 in all comparison). CONCLUSION: The findings of this study suggested that the soluble ethyl acetate partition from ethanol extract of C. odorata leaves had cytotoxic and antiproliferative properties against HeLa cells.