Anti-cancerous Effect of Amomum subulatum Against DMBA Induced Breast Cancer in Rats

Author(s): Jyoti Prakash, Chandrajeet Kumar, Aparna Jyoti Kujur, Sanjiv Kumar and Arun Kumar

The breast cancer incidences have increased many folds globally in the recent times. Female cancer patient around the world is more deceased than the male patients. Plethora of drugs have been discovered and by the advancement of medical treatment, it still remains associated with high mortality rate. Amomum subulatum (L.) has been extensively used in Indian medicine system Ayurveda, due to its various medicinal properties. It is the most common shrub found in the Indian subcontinent. However, there are very limited reports regarding its anticancer activity. Thus, the present study has been aimed to study the anticancer activity of Amomum subulatum seed extract on 7, 12-dimethylbenz(a)anthracene (DMBA) induced breast cancer in rats. Female Charles Foster rats, 55 – 60 days old weighing around (150±10 g) were used for the study and were induced DMBA (20 mg/mL dissolved in Olive oil) orally. After the development of breast tumours (about 0.5 cm), the rats were treated with Amomum subulatum ethanolic seed extract (150mg/Kg b.w./day) orally for 5 weeks and then volume of tumour was measured. Amomum subulatum treatment showed significantly reduced mammary tumour volume (p< 0.05), along with significant reduction (p < 0.0001) in the different serum biomarker such as TNF- α level and serum malondialdehyde (MDA) levels. Significant (p< 0.0001) improvement in both, the kidney and liver serum biomarker parameters were observed after the treatment with Amomum subulatum ethanolic seed extract. From the entire study, taking everything into account it can be interpreted that Amomum subulatum ethanolic seed extract possesses anti-cancerous activity by suppressing the progression of breast tumours in the rat model. The plant extract also possesses hepato-renal protective effect. Hence, it can be targeted as novel and safe anti-cancer drug against breast cancer.