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Abstract
The anticancerous and immunomodulatory activities of Alpinia nigra essential oils and extracts were evaluated in the present study. Besides, volatile constituents of essential oils were also analysed by GC/MS. β-pinene (56.27±2.5%), α-Humulene (13.70±1.55%) were found to be the major constituents in the leaf oil whereas rhizome oil contained β-pinene (38.03± 0.25%), myrtenol (9.35±0.3%) as the main compounds. MCF-7 and HeLa human cancer cell lines were used for evaluation of anticancerous activity. The immunomodulatory activities were examined using human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) emphasizing on Th1 and Th2 cytokines. Our results showed that the oil significantly inhibited proliferation of cancer cells in dose-dependent manner. Rhizome oil of Alpinia nigra showed highest percent of inhibition (79 % ± 2.6 for HeLa and 70.9% ± 5.34 for MCF7) at 20 μg/ml concentration. Human PBMC treated with leaf oil showed highest secretion of IFN-γ (102.39 pg/ml) at 40 μg/ml concentration as compared to control (64.56 pg/ ml). The study implies the potential use of oil and extract of A. nigra as potent immunomodulating agent and a therapeutic supplement for breast and cervical cancer treatment. The anti-cancerous and immunomodulatory activities of both oil and extract of A. nigra were shown for the first time in this report.