Screening of in vitro Anticancer Activity of Various Human Cancer Cell Lines and Induced Apoptosis and Cell Arrest by Ethanolic Bulb Extract of Pancratium zeylanicum

Aim: World widely the human society suffers from various types of cancer due to many causes. Thus, finding out a good anticancer agent is a need of the hour. Medicinal herbs are always considered at pole position whenever we discuss anticancer properties. Numerous herbal plants have been assessed and are subjected to phytochemical analysis to learn more about their anticancer effects. Materials and Methods: To assess the anti-cancerous activity of PZBE extract in MTT assay, cell cycle analysis, and apoptosis studies have been performed using different cancer cell lines. Results: This study aims to assess the impact of ethanolic extract of Pancratium zeylanicum Bulbs (PZBE) against cancerous cells in vitro conditions. MTT assay was used to compare the PZBE extract with Annexin V as a positive control compound against four human cancer cell lines, including Human cervical cancer (HeLa), colon cancer (HT-29), lung cancer (A549) and breast cancer (MCF-7) cell lines with the IC₅₀ values of 209.28 μg/mL for HeLa, 133.09 μg/mL for A-549, 264.46 μg/mL for MCF-7 and 264.75 μg/mL for HT-29 cell lines. Increasing of the populations observed in G2-M and G0-G1 cells by 42% and 44.78%, respectively when compared to the control. The graph demonstrates that PZBE extracts significantly induced G0-G1 arrest in A-549 cells. Furthermore, the PZBE extract effectively induced apoptosis when compared to untreated cells, A-549 cells treated with IC₅₀ concentration, and annexin-V double-staining assay demonstrated an increase in the percentage of early and late apoptotic cells. Conclusion: The ethanol extract of Pancratium zeylanicum bulbs demonstrated potent cytotoxic activity against the cancer cell lines HeLa, A-549, MCF-7, and HT-29. The current study's findings may be helpful in the development of plant-based anticancer drugs.