The Potential Protective Roles of Garcinia Extract as an Antimicrobial and Anticancer Agent Against MCF-7 Breast Cancer, HCT Colon Cancer, and HepG2 Liver Cancer Cells

As the search for novel natural therapeutics intensifies, Garcinia cambogia (Gc) emerges as a powerhouse of phytochemical constituents, capable of inhibiting tumor growth. Thus, we aimed to evaluate the phytochemical screening and biological activity of the aqueous ethanolic extract of Gc fruit using HPLC, LC-MS, and GC-MS to identify natural phytochemical constituents. The antimicrobial activity of Garcinia fruit extract (GFE) was evaluated against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecalis as Gram-positive bacteria, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa as Gram-negative bacteria, and Malassezia furfur and Candida albicans as fungi. HPLC revealed that GFE contained 14 polyphenol compounds, the LC-MS revealed the presence of fifty-six compounds at the positive ionization mode and forty-seven compounds at the negative mode; however, thirty-six compounds were detected using GC-MS. GFE exhibited the strongest inhibitory effects against E. faecalis, with a minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 15.36 mg/mL. Where the inhibition zone diameters were 24.7, 21.7, 21.7, 21.3, and 20.7 mm for E. faecalis, S. aureus, P. aeruginosa, M. furfur, and E. coli, respectively, at the concentration of 500 mg/mL of GFE. In contrast, GFE exhibited no antimicrobial activity against Candida albicans. Furthermore, GFE was screened against three cancer cell lines, including breast cancer (MCF-7), colon cancer (HCT-116), and liver cancer (HepG2), and demonstrated in vitro cytotoxic activity, with IC50 values of 31.7, 49.87, and 48.99 μg/mL for MCF-7, HCT-116, and HepG2, respectively. These findings indicate that GFE is a promising natural antimicrobial agent, while its in vitro cytotoxic activity warrants further investigation.