Abstract
Natural products, especially plant extracts have offered vast opportunities in the field of drug development due to its chemical diversity. The genus Aloe has for long been used for medicinal purposes in different parts of the world. The present study was designed to investigate the phytochemicals and anti-cancer potential of Aloe perryi flowers. The phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of carbohydrates, glycosides, phytosterols, phenols, flavonoids and proteins. While alkaloids and saponins were absent. The percentage inhibition of various extracts (viz. petroleum ether, chloroform, ethyl acetate, butanol and aqueous) of A. perryi flowers on seven human cancer cell lines (HepG2, HCT-116, MCF-7, A549, PC-3, HEp-2 and HeLa) has been evaluated using MTT assay. All the extracts significantly inhibit the proliferation of cancer cells in a concentration-dependent manner. The petroleum ether extract was most active, where the inhibition was recorded as 92.6%, 93.9%, 92%, 90.9%, 88.9%, 82% and 85.7% for HepG2, HCT-116, MCF-7, A-549, PC-3, HEp-2 and HeLa cells, respectively. The results also revealed that HCT-116 cells were more sensitive among all the cell lines studied.