ANTI-CANCER ACTIVITY OF CLOVE OIL AGAINST MCF-7 CELL LINE INDUCED BREAST CANCER AND Caco-2 CELL LINE INDUCED COLON CANCER IN MICE

Clove, the sun-dried unopened flower bud from the plant Syzygium aromaticum L. is a commonly used spice and food flavor. The oil of clove is rich in eugenol, carvacrol, and other phytochemical constituents. It also possesses flavonoids like kaempferol and eugenin. The major constituent eugenol being a monocyclic, oxygenated, aromatic monoterpene is expected to be a potent chemo-preventive and a therapeutic agent in cancer therapy. In the current study we have evaluated the anticancer potential of clove oil against Caco-2 induced colon cancer and MCF-7 induced breast cancer. Swiss mice were grouped into seven groups of which group 1 was normal control, group 2 & 3 were cancer control groups injected with Caco-2 and MCF-7 cell lines to induce colon and breast cancer respectively, group 4 & 5 were allotted for standard treatment and then group 6 & 7 were for Clove treatment. The treatment continued for four weeks and finally blood was collected by carotid puncture and sacrificed by ether anesthesia to evaluate various serum and tissue parameters. The therapeutic potential of clove is expected to be due to its monoterpene constituent eugenol. It was found that treatment of cell-line induced breast and colon cancer groups with clove oil has shown a significant effect on the carcino-embryonic antigen and other hematologic parameters. It showed a significant reduction of various serum biochemical parameters like SGPT, LDH, GGT, ALP and ferritin and increased the antioxidant levels. Thus, it was found that cloves have therapeutic potential as an anticancer agent.