The effect of nigella sativa on the murine melanoma cell line, B16-BL6

Abstract

Nigella sativa, commonly known as black seed, belongs to the botanical family of Ranunculaceae. Over recent years, there has been a growing interest in natural products including N. sativa due to their promising as anti-cancer effects. Several in vitro studies to determine the effect of N. sativa on the growth of the malignant melanoma cell line, B16-BL6, and non-malignant cell lines were performed. We have shown that treatment of cells with a 70% ethanol extract of N. sativa can significantly inhibit proliferation of both malignant and non-malignant cells. Treatment with an aqueous extract of N. sativa can reduce the growth of malignant cell proliferation while having a lesser effect on non- malignant cell proliferation. Ethanol extracts of N. sativa can induce apoptosis in treated B16-BL6 cells as confirmed using the Acridine Orange/Ethidium Bromide staining assay, Tunel assay, and Caspase activity assay. Some studies revealed that Thymoquinone is an important bioactive component of N. sativa and has anti-cancer effect. However, we aim to further investigate the active components of N. sativa using High-Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) to identify the components that may be more effective in inhibiting cancer cell proliferation.