Advances in Biological Chemistry, 2013, 3, 397-402 ABC doi:10.4236/abc.2013.34042 Published Online August 2013 (http://www.scirp.org/journal/abc/ ) The activity of Rhaphidophora pinnta Lf. Schott leaf on MCF-7 cell line Masfria 1 , Urip Harahap 1 , Maratua Pandapotan Nasution 1 , Syafruddin Ilyas 2 1 Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia 2 Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia Email: fia.mustafa@yahoo.com Received 31 May 2013; revised 29 June 2013; accepted 13 July 2013 Copyright © 2013 Masfria et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ABSTRACT Ekor naga’s leaf (Rhaphidophora pinnata (Lf) Schott) is a type of vines and climbing plant. The leaves are elongated round and hollowed inside. This plant had been using for the treatment of breast cancer. Extrac- tion with percolation method has been done in ekor naga’s leaves with ethanol, and fractionated by n- hexane, chloroform and ethyl acetate using liquid- liquid extraction (LLE). Cytotoxicity assay of ethanol extract, n-hexane fraction, chloroform fraction, ethyl acetate fraction and water fraction against MCF-7 cells were done using MTT method (3-(4,5-dimetilti- azol-2-il)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide). Phyto- chemical screening results showed the presence of the compounds such as triterpenoida/steroid, alkaloid, flavonoid, tannin, and saponin. n-hexane fraction was positive for the presence of triterpenoida/steroid, chlo- roform fraction containing alkaloids, saponin and tri- terpenoid; ethyl acetate fraction contained, flavonoid, tannin, and the fraction of water indicated the pres- ence of tannin and saponin. Secondary metabolite com- pounds in ethanol extract, chloroform fraction and ethyl acetate fraction gave positive results against MCF-7 cells. Cytotoxicity assay of MCF-7 cell line showed that crude ethanol extracts had 112.240 mcg/ml IC 50 chloroform fraction IC 50 was 59.082 mcg/ml, and ethyl acetate fraction IC 50 was 812.663 mcg/ml. Keywords: Ekor Naga’s Leaf; Haphidophora Pinnata; MCF-7 Cells; MTT Method; Cytotoxic Assay 1. INTRODUCTION Breast cancer is one of the worldwide deathly cancer type after lung, liver and colon cancer. It is the main ene- my of women and currently in the first rank of danger. Identification of breast cancer cases worldwide has in- creased from about 640.000 in 1980 to 1.6 million by 2010 in developing country [1]. Patients with breast can- cer are mainly caused by the diet, such as the selection of foods and drinks contain preservatives, coloring agents and beverages that contain alcohols [2]. Cause of cancer usually cannot be known with certain- ty because it is a combination of a set of factors includ- ing genetics, environment, foods containing chemicals, vi- ruses, for example Papilloma Virus, which caused genital warts/genital, cytomegalo virus that caused Kaposi sar- coma/cancer of vascular system marked by blood red skin lesions, Hepatitis B virus, hormonal imbalance, free radicals, psychological and emotional factors [3]. The efforts for developing anticancer drugs had been continued intensively, both derived from chemicals and natural sources. Some research showed that many of the plants contain a variety of chemical compounds as po- tential anticancer. One of those things that has became scientists’ observation is traditional medicine. This re- search is done because the potential of traditional medi- cine has long been believed by the people to cure the di- sease [4]. One of the plants that can be used for the cancer treat- ment is ekor naga’s leaves (Rhaphidophora pinnata (Lf) Schott), from Araceae family. Some people have used the boiling water for the treatment of cancer. Polyphenolic compounds (flavonoids, tannins and saponins) are gener- ally effective as antioxidant and could kill the growth of abnormal cells (tissue) and uncontrolled cell, which is one of the causes of cancer [5]. Pre-eliminary screening test for active compounds con- tained in the extract was the toxicity test on the shrimp larvae Artemia salina L. using the brine shrimp test me- thod with LC 50 values of crude ethanol extract 19.686 mcg/ml, n-hexane fraction 505.82 mcg/ml, ethyl acetate fraction 28.84 mcg/ml and ethanol fraction 128.82 mcg/ml [6-9]. Acute toxicity test with oral administration in fe- male mice up to doses of 5000 mg/kg BW did not reveal Published Online August 2013 in SciRes. http://www.scirp.org/journal/abc