Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

ANTICANCER ACTIVITY OF HONEY EXTRACT FROM INDONESIA BY A549 CELL INHIBITION IN VITRO

La Ode Sumarlin, Hendrawati, Irsyad Bahalwan, Farhan Riza Afandi, and Adawiyah

Abstract

Cancer is one of the health problems which are taken seriously in the medical field both in Indonesia and throughout the world. Honey contains various bioactive compounds including phenolic acids and flavonoids which have the potential as anticancer agents. This research aims to discover the anticancer activity of local honey through inhibition of A549 cells (lung cancer cells). The honey samples which is used were trigona, longan, rambutan and kaliandra honey. Cancer cell inhibition ability were tested in vitro using A549 cell as human lung cancer cells. Honey were extracted with methanol, water and n-hexane fractions. The A549 cell inhibition test used (3-4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-Diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT assay) method. Solvents which are able to extract honey well were methanol, water and ethyl acetate. Meanwhile n-hexane does not give any extract. The results of MTT test showed that the highest inhibition of the water fraction was shown by kaliandra honey with 78.25% inhibition at 50 ppm and the highest ethyl acetate fraction was shown by rambutan honey with 70.81% inhibition at 200 ppm against A549 cells. In addition, Trigona sp and longan honey have high activity of 52.00% (ethyl acetate fraction) and 65.33% (water fraction). Therefore Trigona sp, kaliandra, rambutan and longan honey has potential as a supplement for lung cancer patients.