Bitter melon is a plant that has been found to exhibit beneficial medicinal properties against human diseases. Studies have revealed that plant extracts are capable of not only reducing lipid peroxidase but also inducing apoptosis in cancer cell lines. The present study aims to evaluate the anticancer properties of bitter melon (Momordica charantia) extract (BME) in a dose-dependent manner against human breast cancer cell line BT549, lung cancer cell line A549 and prostate cancer cell line PC3. Method: The anti-tumor properties of the BME were evaluated in vitro by the exposure of the cancer cells to serially diluted concentrations of BME for 24 hours. Alamar Blue was used to determine the cell viability, and ELISA (Enzyme-linked Immunosorbent Assay) assay for caspase-3 activity. Furthermore, levels of Lipid Peroxidation measured as the thiobarbituric reactive substances (TBARS) were assayed following exposure to BME. Results: The results indicate that a crude extract of bitter melon stimulated cell proliferation at lower concentrations (i.e. 0.079 μg/ml and 0.157 μg/ml), whereas a gradual but significant decrease (<0.05) in cell proliferation, and was observed at the highest concentration of 5.03 μg/ml compared to the control (i.e., cells treated with DMSO). The lipid peroxidase assay showed a significant decrease only in TBARS for the A549 at the respective doses of 2.52 μg/ml and 5.03 μg/ml. That of BT549 and PC3 cells had significant decrease in TBARS only at the respective doses of 5.03 μg/ml compared to the controls. Caspase-3 activity showed a gradual increase in apoptosis in all three cell lines at the lower doses. However, significant increase in apoptosis was observed for all three cell lines treated with BME at the 5.03 μg/ml dose. Conclusion: The findings from this study indicate that BME contains anti-oxidative as well as anti-tumor properties which could be beneficial and promote health. Future studies would be aimed at isolating and characterizing the various metabolites in bitter melon to find out which compound has the most potential to inhibit cancer growth and promote healthy living.
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