Biochemical Constituents and Anticancer Activities of the Essential Oils of Lannea egregia Engl. & K. Krause

Introduction: The Increase in cancer deaths has raised concerns among scientists to research on prospective anticancer agents. Lannea egregia was selected for this research because it has been identified to have ethnobotanical claims in relation to the cure of cancer in South-West Nigeria.

Aims: To analyze the chemical constituents and determine the anticancer properties of the essential oils obtained from Lannea egregia Engl. & K. Krause Leaf, twig and stem-bark.

Study Design: This study was designed to assay the chemical constituents of Lannea egregia and based on the ethnobotanical claims, the anticancer activities of this plant was studied.

Place and Duration of Study: Department of Chemistry, Dipartmento di Farmacia, Via Bonanno 6, Universita di Pisa and University of Ibadan and Department of Virology, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria. July 2018- April 2021.

Methodology: Essential oils (EOs) from leaf, twig and stem-bark of Lannea egregia were extracted by hydro-distillation. Chemical compositions were characterized using Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry (GC–MS). Cytotoxicity screenings of EOs were determined on human rhabdomyosarcoma (RD) and breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7), using MTT [3-(4,5 dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide] cell viability assay.

Results: Leaf, twig and stem-bark EOs gave good yields of 0.12%, 0.43% and 0.33%, respectively.

Fifty-five, thirty-three and thirty-eight compounds were identified in leaf, twig and stem-bark EOs, accounting for 99.1%, 97.8% and 95.8% of them. Most abundant compound in leaf, stem-bark and twig EOs was β-caryophellene (28.2, 23.4 and 13.2%, respectively).

Leaf EO displayed strong cytotoxicity against RD and MCF-7, with 50% cytotoxicity (CC50) of 1.69 and 15.81µg/ml, respectively. Twig EO exhibited good selectivity with selectivity index of 24.8 and 10.8 for RD and MCF-7, respectively.

Conclusion: Results showed that EOs have good anticancer properties.