title: The Anti-cancer Activity of Vernonia divaricata Sw against Leukaemia, Breast and Prostate Cancers In Vitro.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Vernonia divaricata is one of five endemic Vernonia species of Jamaica. The ethno-medicinal uses of other species have been established, however, scientific validation of this species has not yet been done and as such this paper is aimed at identifying the anti-cancer activity of V divaricata against leukaemia, breast and prostate cancer cell lines.
  
  
  METHODS
  Leaves and stems of V divaricata were dried and milled into powder. The crude hexane and methanol extracts of the leaves and stems were obtained and bio-assayed using WST-1 cell proliferation assay against leukaemia, breast and prostate cancer cell lines.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The crude hexane and methanol extracts of V divaricata were able to significantly retard the growth of the MCF-7 (breast), HL-60 (leukaemia) and the PC-3 (prostate) cancer cell lines. The crude methanol extract of the stem was the strongest, exhibiting anti-proliferation activity with IC50 values of 10.14, 12.63 and 9.894 µg/ml for the HL-60, MCF-7 and PC-3 cancer cell lines, respectively, with the most potent toward prostate cancer.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The medicinal use of V divaricata as an anti-cancer agent was corroborated as the crude hexane and methanol extracts demonstrated potent anti-proliferation activity and as such hold potential for further research and development into a drug to prevent or treat various cancers.
authors.affiliation: Bio-Tech R&D Institute, Kingston, Jamaica; Educational and Scientific Corporation, Wellington, Florida, USA. lowebiotech@gmail.com, henrylowe@cwjamaica.com.
authors.forename: H I-C
authors.initials: HI
authors.lastname: Lowe
authors.affiliation: Bio-Tech R&D Institute, Kingston, Jamaica.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Daley-Beckford
authors.affiliation: Educational and Scientific Corporation, Wellington, Florida, USA; Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: N J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Toyang
authors.affiliation: Bio-Tech R&D Institute, Kingston, Jamaica.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Watson
authors.affiliation: Bio-Tech R&D Institute, Kingston, Jamaica.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hartley
authors.affiliation: Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bryant