anticancer screening of various seed extract of cardiospermum halicacabum on human colorectal, skin and breast cancer cell lines

background: in the modern lifestyle, the increase in cancer and related chronic disorders is a major public health problem. in spite of different methods used for the treatment of these conditions, natural medicines have high demands due to their significant effects as immune enhancement and therapeutic agents and fewer side effects in comparison with other treatment methods. hence, this study was undertaken to evaluate the cytotoxic effect of cardiospermum halicacabum linn. seeds, based on traditional claims. methods: a soxhlet extractor was used to obtain different extracts from seeds of c. halicacabum linn. sulforhodamine b colorimetric (srb) assay used for the evaluation of the cytotoxic effect of the various extracts on ht-29, hct-15 colon carcinoma, sk-mel-2 skin carcinoma, and mcf-7 breast carcinoma. the results were compared against doxorubicin as a standard drug. results: the results of the present study showed the potent cytotoxic activity of n-hexane extract of seeds of c. halicacabum linn. against the mcf-7 breast cancer cell line with 50% growth inhibition value (gi50) of 12.8 μg/ml but other extracts showed poor activity in other tested cell lines. conclusions: the results indicated the potential medicinal value of c. halicacabum linn. seeds oil with the highest extractive yield as an antineoplastic agent. however, further studies are needed for the isolation of the active anticancer compounds and evaluating the mechanism of action of the responsible compound.