Potential Anti-tumor/ Apoptotic Effects of Coffea arabica Leaves on Triple Negative Breast Cancer
Jessica Lashley
Co-Presenters: Individual Presentation
College: Hennings College of Science Mathematics and Technology
Major: BA.BIOLOGY
Faculty Research Mentor: Ross, Donald
Abstract:
Title: Potential Anti-tumor/ Apoptotic Effects of Coffea arabica Leaves on Triple Negative Breast Cancer Author: Jessica Lashley, Dorthy Hennings School, Kean University Abstract:Breast cancer remains one of the leading causes of cancer-related death for women worldwide, and there is still investigation yet to be done on natural remedies for cancer. Coffea arabica, commonly known as Arabica Coffee, has significant anti-inflammatory properties due to its powerful antioxidants. Recent studies have investigated the effects of the specific antioxidants found in this plant against several types of cancer. The purpose of this study was to derive an extract from natural Coffea arabica leaves to investigate its potential anti-tumor/ apoptotic effects on breast cancer cells.Dried Coffea arabica leaves were grinded into a fine powder and extracted using methanol using a 1:60 (w/v) ratio. This was macerated for 2-4 hours at 40°C and filtered twice. Stage 4 Breast Cancer cells were cultured and passaged every 3-4 days before we exposed it to varying conditions of the leaf extract in 96-well plates.It was observed that lower concentrations reduced Breast Cancer Cell adhesion. As for the high concentrations, we found that to be much too strong for the cancer and almost immediately killed all the cells. However, contamination occurred after a week of investigation.Overall, this study provides preliminary evidence supporting the potential anti-tumor properties of Coffea arabica leaves. Further research ought to be conducted. In the future, we are interested in investigating ways to stop such contamination and maybe conducting more testing on multiple different cancers. Keywords: Coffea Arabica, Breast Cancer, Apoptosis, Methanol Extraction, Natural Products