In vitro antioxidant and anticancer activity of Blumea lacera leaf extract

The melanoma is a form of skin cancer that is caused by excessive exposure to ultraviolet radiation. The available chemotherapy does not show encouraging effect and therefore a new direction in the discovery of therapeutics is the need of the hour. Plant-based therapeutics has been a rich area of investigation in the field of drug discovery. In this paper, the antioxidant, and anticancer properties of the crude leaf extract from Blumea lacera were studied. Methanol and ethanol-based extracts were analyzed by using 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging activity, ferric reducing antioxidant power assay, thiobarbituric acid reactive substances for evaluation of antioxidant activity, 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide assay, wound healing assay, and colony formation assay were used to assess the anticancer activity of these extracts. The polyphenol content of the extracts was evaluated using the total phenolic content assay and high-performance liquid chromatography analysis. Results showed that the leaf extracts had antioxidant and anticancer activity. The anti-migratory effect of the methanolic extract against the melanoma cell line was also shown.