Carnations (Syzygium aromaticum L.) - a phenomenon or a natural gift of nature?

Conventional cancer treatment is unfavorable as it causes many harmful side effects and recently there has been a growing resistance to anticancer drugs which is worsening the future of cancer treatment.
Therefore, the current focus is on natural products such as spices and plants among many others to save the future of cancer treatment.
Cloves (Syzygium aromaticum L.) are the spices with the highest antioxidant content among natural products.
Apart from acting as an antioxidant, cloves also have many other functions such as anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and antiseptic which makes them an ideal natural source to be developed as an anticancer agent. Current cancer treatment usually involves a number of combination therapies to treat and combat the disease.
The treatment options available to cancer patients are surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, hormonal therapy, biological therapy and targeted therapy.
This cocktail of treatments and drugs is highly toxic and has many side effects.
Not only is it troublesome, but its unconventional approach, with its fair share of side effects, always acts as a barrier and thus limits the treatment of cancer patients.
Many of us are still unaware that diet is one of the major contributors to cancer.
The foods we consume contain many chemicals, preservatives and dyes, making us more susceptible to cancer.
Spices such as ginger, garlic, cloves and turmeric, among many others, have dominated our kitchens for ages. However, until now, most of us still do not understand the benefits and medicinal values ​​of these spices; in “our” mind, their use is simply meant to add aroma and flavor to food.
The use of spices as mediators is gaining popularity, largely due to their safe toxicity profiles and their potential as chemosensitizers.
Syzygium aromaticum (clove) ranks first in antioxidant properties, followed by cinnamon, pepper, ginger, and garlic. Cloves are well known in Ayurveda, a form of Indian traditional medicine, for their potency as a chemopreventive agent and their ability to treat several diseases.
During the 24 hours of the experiment, clove essential oil achieved an LD50 concentration of 37 μg/ml, whereas the ethanol extract achieved an LD50 of 103 μg/ml. However, the aqueous extract did not achieve the LD50 concentration even at the highest concentration.
MTT Assay
Since clove showed some promising results during BSLT, further tests were conducted on clove extract and essential oil using MTT assay to evaluate the cytotoxic potential of clove on MCF-7 cells. As the result showed, clove aqueous extract had no cytotoxic activity on MCF-7 cancer cells. The ethanol extract showed a promising result where cell inhibition was observed after 24 hours and 48 hours of incubation. In comparison, 48 h incubation resulted in a lower IC50 of 16.71 μg/mL, whereas 24 h achieved an IC50 of 61.29 μg/mL.

However, clove essential oil showed the highest potential as an anticancer source with lower IC50 concentrations in both 24 h and 48 h MTT assay (36.43 μg/ml and 17.6 μg/ml, respectively).

Other studies on cloves also support the spice’s ability as an excellent cytotoxic agent. Cloves are hailed as the future of cancer treatment due to their ability to induce apoptosis and work in various cancer cells. Cloves are also a source of betulinic acid and other triterpenes that can act as chemopreventive agents against breast cancer. Various studies have concluded that cloves are ideal for cancer treatment because they enhance apoptosis and inhibit cell proliferation – two key properties that are ideal for cancer treatment.

In conclusion, Cloves have a promising future of development as an anti-cancer agent. This research has unlocked the hidden potential held in the tiny spice known as Cloves. With such promising results as presented above, the possibility of a natural product being the key to the future of cancer treatment, particularly breast cancer, and not only oncology - but also in other disorders caused by exposure to organic and non-organic toxins, positive results - is becoming a reality!!!

Anticancer Potential of Syzygium aromaticum L. (clove) in Human Breast Cancer Cell Lines MCF-7
Parvinnesh S. Kumar, 1 Raden M. Febrianti, 2,3 Ferri F. Sofyan, 2 Dimas E. Lufimas, 3,4 and Ritsky Abdulakh1,3