Assessing The Cytotoxic Effect of Capsicum annuum extract on Cervical Cancer

Abstract

Capsicum annuum, or chili pepper, is known from traditional medicine to have anti-tumor properties. Recent researches isolated to compound responsible to be Capsaicin, with few researches opposing this notion. Since there are some disagreements as to the validity of this claim, it is important that further tests need to be conducted to prove or disprove the point. Hence, this thesis aimed to assess the cytotoxicity of Capsicum annuum extract toward cancers, with tumor type less picked by most researches, which is cervical cancer. Molecular docking was used to confirm binding affinity. Extraction was performed, which then proceed to culturing HeLa cells. The treatment and MTS Assay was conducted, alongside UV-Vis Quantification. The result showed a slight increase in cell viability in the lower concentrations, and then steep decline at a certain concentration. It was determined that Capsaicin would only start to affect the cells at a certain concentration.