Anticancer activity of ethanol and ethyl acetate extracts of Avicennia marina leaves on breast, ovarian and cervical cancer cell lines

Avicennia marina, the gray mangrove, is an herbal source of bioactive anticancer compounds. In the current study, the anticancer activity of ethanol and ethyl acetate extracts of A. marina leaves were aimed to be evaluated. To do that, some assessments including phytochemical, GC-MS, cell proliferation, viability, cycle, western blot and computational modeling analysis were performed for evaluation of their anticancer activity on breast, ovarian and cervical cancer cell lines. The results demonstrated ethanol and ethyl acetate extracts of A. marina leaves had high phenolic and flavonoid contents. In GC-MS analysis of the extracts, anticancer compounds were detected. Moreover, the MTT and cell viability assays showed anti-proliferative activity and decrease in cell viability after treatment of MCF-7, OVCAR3, and HeLa cell lines with both extracts, separately. In addition, in the cell cycle analysis the cell cycle arrest was observed in MCF-7. Moreover, the western blot analysis showed that the pro-apoptotic cell effectors such as Bax and caspase-1, -3, and -7 increased. Computational results of affinity of ligands detected by GC-MS compounds and stimulated apoptosis effectors detected by western blot showed five molecules in A. marina leaves playing role in OVCAR3 and HeLa apoptosis. In conclusion, the ethanol and ethyl acetate extracts of A. marina leaves have anticancer effects. The ethanol extract induced cell cycle arrest in the breast cancer cell line and the ethyl acetate extract induced apoptotic mechanisms in ovarian and cervical cancer cell lines; that’s how they decreased cancer cells’ survival and viability.