“In Vitro Anticancer Activity of an Ethanol Extract of Coleus forskohlii Root against Liver Cancer cell line”

Human liver cancer is the fifth most common cancer in the world. It is one of the serious health problems in most developing countries. The present investigation proved that ethanol extract of Coleus forskohlii root extract significantly suppressed the growth and induced the apoptosis in the liver cancer (HepG2) cell lines. IC50 dose was measured with Methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay. 65.61 μg of extract showed 50% reduction of in HepG2 cell line growth at 48 hrs of incubation. Coleus forskohlii root extract induced apoptotic features of cell death were stained with Acridine orange/ethidium bromide, Hoechst Staining and Rhodamine 123 staining. Lipid peroxidation markers (TBARS) were significantly elevated; enzymatic antioxidants such as superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx) were slightly decreased in their activities compared to control. DNA damage was confirmed by comet tail formation. The protein expression of Bax, Bcl2 and Caspase-3 were analyzed through Western blotting. Thus, the study concludes that Coleus forskohlii root ethanol extract is an effective antiproliferative and anti-cancer agent.