Phytochemical, antioxidant and anticancer properties of honey and black seed mixture on MCF-7 cell lines

Breast cancer is a leading cause of death of women in Malaysia, accounting for 17.7% of all cancer cases reported and 31.1% of all female cases. Chemotherapy drugs are effective in breast cancer treatment but may cause physiological and psychological distress to the patient. Therefore, an alternative way to provide better anticancer treatment with less side effects is important. Honey and black seed have been reported to show strong anticancer and antioxidant properties. Thus, in the present study, methanolic extracted honey and black seed mixture (ME), aqueous extracted honey and black seed mixture (AE) and mixture of methanolic extracted honey and aqueous extracted black seed (ME+AE) were evaluated for their anticancer and antioxidant properties. Antioxidant properties of the mixtures were determined using 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhdrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging assay and the half maximal effective concentration (EC50) were determined. Meanwhile, anticancer properties of the mixtures were evaluated on MCF-7 breast cancer cell line. Results revealed, in the antioxidant assays, the EC50 values of AE, ME and ME+AE mixture were 4.15 mg/mL, 2.47 mg/mL and 4.17 mg/mL, respectively. In the anticancer study, there was no significant difference (p>0.05) between extraction methods on the cytotoxicity of MCF-7 cell line. The IC50 values obtained from different extraction method range between 13.27 µg/mL to 16.45 µg/mL. The presence of bioactive compounds such as alkaloid, flavonoid, phenol, tannin and saponin in honey and black seed mixture might contribute to its high cytotoxic activity. Therefore, the use of honey and black seed mixture as a health supplement for its of anticancer and antioxidant benefits should be considered.