Ethyl acetate partition obtained from the methanol extract of Muntingia calabura leaf exerts effective in vitro antiproliferative activity against the HT-29 colon cancer

Methanol extract of Muntingia calabura L. leaf (MEMC_L) has been shown to exert the antiproliferative activity against the HT-29 (human colon adenocarcinoma) cell line. To further investigate on the medicinal potential of this plant, MEMC_L was sequentially partitioned to obtain the petroleum ether, ethyl acetate and aqueous partitions, which was then tested against the HT-29 cell line and also subjected to the in vitro anti-inflammatory study. The most effective partition was also subjected to the phytoconstituents analysis using the UHPLC-ESI-MS. Findings showed that the ethyl acetate partition (EAP) exerts the most effective antiproliferative activity (IC₅₀ = 58.0±12.9 µg/mL) without affecting the 3T3 normal fibroblast cells, exhibits the highest anti-inflammatory effect when assessed using the lipoxygenase (> 95%) and xanthine oxidase (> 70%) assays, and contained various types of polyphenolics. In conclusion, M. calabura exerts apoptotic-mediated antiproliferative activity, partly via the anti-inflammatory action and synergistic action between the polyphenolics.