Abstract

Earthworms have a long association with medicinal property as the biomolecules/compounds produced by the earthworms are of pharmacological importance with high potential in eradication of various diseases with very low cost. Researchers have proved that earthworms are immune to malignant diseases such as different kinds of cancers. Hence, the present study was undertaken to evaluate the antitumor activities of different epigeic earthworms such as Eudrilus eugeniae, Eisenia fetida and Perionyx excavatus. The cytotoxicity assay was tested through MTT assay on MCF-7 cells by exposing them at various concentrations (200, 400, 600, 800 and 1000µg/ml) of different epigeic earthworm’s powder and standard antibiotic drug Cisplatin (15µg/ml). The percent growth inhibition/percent viability of MCF-7 cells varies with different concentrations of earthworm’s powder. The IC50 value was more prominent with Eisenia fetida (113.97µg/ml) followed by Eudrilus eugeniae (825.67µg/ml) and Perionyx excavatus (1617.31µg/ml). Based on the above results, it can be concluded that the tissues of the earthworm, Eisenia fetida seems to be very good anticancer agent against MCF-7 cells as compared to other two earthworm species. Therefore, such studies could be useful in future for the development of novel therapeutic agents against different types of cancers, further molecular level experimental studies are required to ascertain the pathways and genes responsible for the anticancer effect and thereby we can exploit beneficial aspects of various earthworm species in drug delivery research and also in pharmaceutical applications.

Key words: Antitumor activity, epigeic earthworms (Eudrilus eugeniae, Eisenia fetida and Perionyx excavatus), MCF-7 cells and MTT assay.