Introduction: Morinda citrifolia or also known as noni is commonly consumed raw or blanched as side dishes or ‘ulam’. As cancer is one of the most leading causes of death in the world, we aimed to evaluate the anti-proliferative potential of noni shoot against various types of cancer cell lines. Methods: The breast cancer (MDA-MB-231), liver cancer (HepG2), and colorectal cancer (HT-29) cell lines were treated with 70% ethanol extract of noni shoot for cytotoxicity testing using 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Apoptosis induction effects were examined using AO/PI dual fluorescent assay and cell cycle analysis using flow cytometry. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS) was also carried out to characterize the active compounds in noni shoot. Results: The cytotoxicity assay demonstrated noni shoot had IC50 of 49.72 µg/mL, 307.5 µg/mL and 65.43 µg/ mL against MDA-MB-231, HepG2, and HT-29 cell lines, respectively. The AO/PI staining showed apoptotic bodies such as cell blebbing, chromatin condensation, and nuclear fragmentation was markedly induced in the selected cancer cell lines-treated with noni shoot extract. Apoptosis induction by noni shoot was showed by a significant increase in sub G0/G1 phase in MDA-MB-231 and HT-29 cell lines of cell cycle analysis. It was found that noni shoot extract contained mostly acetic acid and ethriol that may contribute to its anti-cancer properties. Conclusion: These findings showed the potential anticancer properties of noni shoot extract thereby, further studies are needed to understand the mechanism of noni as anti-cancer agent and possibility to be developed as a nutraceutical or functional food products.
Phytochemicals

Introduction: Anacardium occidentale or cashew are popular traditional food and have raised research interest for complementary cancer treatment. Cancer has become leading cause of death and treatment involved severe side effects. In present study, we aim to study the anti-proliferative effects of cashew shoots in breast cancer (MDAMB-231), colorectal cancer (HT-29) and liver cancer (HepG2) cell lines. Methods: Cell lines were treated with 70% ethanolic cashew extract for cytotoxicity test with MTT assay. AO/PI dual fluorescent assay and RNase/PI staining were used to determine apoptosis induction effects. Phytochemicals screening was carried out by using gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) and liquid chromatography mass spectrometry (LCMS). Results: The cytotoxicity assay of cashew shoot extract demonstrated IC50 of 81.1 ± 0.11 μg/ml for MDA-MB-231, 307.5 ± 2.31 μg/ml for HT-29 and 272.6 ± 1.91 μg/ml for HepG2 cell lines. The apoptotic bodies include chromatin condensation, cell blebbing and nuclear fragmentation and apoptosis induction were shown by AO/PI staining. There was significant increase of cell count in sub-G0 phase in MDA-MB-231 cell lines treated with cashew shoot extract. It was demonstrated that cashew shoot extract contained 38 compounds from GCMS such as sitosterol, tannin, pyrogallol, phenol and 20 compounds from LCMS such as citric acid, gallic acid, myricetin and hinokiflavone that may give rise to its anti-cancer effect. Conclusion: Cashew shoot extract demonstrated potential anti-cancer properties thus further study is required to investigate its mechanism as anti-cancer agent.