Cancer Biology 2019;9(4) http://www.cancerbio.net CBJ 32 Exploration of the Carcinogenic Properties of Some Antituberculosis Herbal Drugs Made in Nigeria from Garcinia Kola Plant’s Parts Akintelu Sunday Adewale 1 , Folorunso Aderonke Similoluwa 2* , Ajayi Samuel Oluwakayode 3 and Ademosun Olabisi Theresa 3 1 Department of Pure and Applied Chemistry, Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso, Nigeria. 2 Department of Chemistry, Louisiana State University, Louisiana, USA 3 Department of Chemical science, Covenant University, Otta, Nigeria. folorunsoderonkesimi@gmail.com ; +2348136872649 Abstract: Tuberculosis is an antique disease that remains a major global health issue. Garcinia kola is a recognized medicinal plant with high medicinal values rendering it a prospective source of local herbs in undeveloped countries and a pharmaceuticals source in developed countries. This study was aimed at the assessment of the safety level of some antituberculosis herbal drugs made from Garcinia kola plant’s part. The antituberculosis herbal drugs made from the Seed, leaves, bark and root of Garcinia kola were purchased and properly air dried. Ultrasonic extraction of the samples were done following standard procedure. The impurity in the herbal drug extracts were remove using column chromatography. The concentrations of PAHs in the purified herbal drugs extracts were determined with Gas Chromatography-Flame Ionization Detector (GC-FID). PAHs diagnostic ratios, group distribution and cancer risk estimation of PAHs where calculated from the concentration of PAHs. The highest concentration of total PAHs was detected in AHDR sample (22.434 mg/kg) and lowest concentration in AHDS sample (16.965mg/kg). Sample AHDS had highest percentage of carcinogenic PAHs (51.44%) while sample AHDB had lowest percentage (25.90%). Values obtained from the diagnostic indices confirmed that the source of PAHs were from pyrogenic sources. The estimated cancer risk via exposure to PAHs resulting from the use of these herbal drugs ranges from 2.0642 to 0.6034 x 10 -7 and were below the USEPA set range (1 × 10 −4 – 1 × 10 −6 ) . Nevertheless, to reduce health problem, excessive intake of these herbal drugs should be prevented as their biodegradation on accumulation are difficult. [Akintelu Sunday Adewale, Folorunso Aderonke Similoluwa, Ajayi Samuel Oluwakayode and Ademosun Olabisi Theresa. Exploration of the Carcinogenic Properties of Some Antituberculosis Herbal Drugs Made in Nigeria from Garcinia Kola Plant’s Parts. Cancer Biology 2019;9(4):32-40]. ISSN: 2150-1041 (print); ISSN: 2150-105X (online). http://www.cancerbio.net . 5. doi:10.7537/marscbj090419.05 . Keywords: Anti-tuberculosis, Herbal drug, Cancer and Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. 1. Introduction Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease caused by a bacterial called Mycobacterium and its infection is one of the major disease that affects the lungs (Zhang et al 2016). Reports shows that tuberculosis is one of the most common infectious disease and it has been estimated that over two billion people or one-third of the world’s population have been infected by M. tuberculosis (Sivakumar and Jayaraman 2011). More than eight million new cases of active TB disease are recorded yearly which result into two million deaths annually, thereby leading to a global epidemic (Dye 2006; WHO 2007). Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) is another important problem limiting the control of TB worldwide. The increase in rate of tuberculosis infections had been traced to increase in number of patients suffering from immuno deficiency virus (Shim and Jo 2013). Fever, night sweats, coughing up blood, chest pain, fatigue, breathing with difficulty and unintentional weight loss are the prominent symptoms of tuberculosis infection (MFMER 2019). The increase in multidrug resistant strains of M. tuberculosis is connected to the inactive clinical nature of the disease which requires an extended period of treatment, approximately 6-9 months, as well as the abnormal microbiological attributes of the microorganism. Prolong therapy in cure of TB has led to poor patient compliance and often toxicity which are the cause of drug resistant (Zhang et al 2006). Chemotherapeutic cure for TB has led to discovery of several effective TB drugs such as rifampicin, isoniazid, pyrazinamide and ethambutol which are refer to as first line TB drugs, ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, cycloserine and clofazimine second-line drugs while rifambutin, clarithromycin and linezolid are called third-line TB drugs (Eric et al 2016). Isoniazid, rifampin, pyrazinamide, ethambutol are the active commercially available synthetic drugs used as medication for treating tuberculosis while delamanid, sutezolid, PA-824, linezolid and bedaquiline are therapeutic drugs currently used for drug-resistant treatment of tuberculosis infection (MFMER 2019). The increase in multidrug resistant strains of M. tuberculosis has decreased the effectiveness of current