According to the WHO, the global cancer incidence rate is increasing by more than 5% annually due to the rapid increase in the elderly population and continuous environmental degradation. The increasing rate of cancer incidence underscores the importance of developing health supplements and pharmaceutical ingredients derived from plants. Indeed, several anticancer drugs such as Taxol, vincristine, and vinblastine have been developed from plant-derived ingredients, serving as crucial resources in modern pharmaceutical development. This study evaluated the anticancer activity of extracts from seven different seeds against various cancer cell lines. Seeds from perennial trees such as Alnus japonica, Chamaecyparis obtusa, Cornus kousa, Phellodendron amurense, Pinus densiflora, Prunus sargentii, and Quercus glauca were used in the experiments. Extracts, prepared via ultrasonic extraction with 70% ethanol and concentrated to 100 µg·mL-1, were tested on lung (A549), prostate (LNCaP-LN3), melanoma (B16F10), colon (Caco-2, HCT15), and breast (MDA-MB-231) cancer cell lines using the MTT assay. In the lung cancer (A549) cell line, C. kousa, C. obtusa, and Q. glauca significantly inhibited cancer cell proliferation compared to the negative control (DMSO), with viability rates of 68.2%, 6.8%, and 44.7%, respectively. Prostate cancer (LNCaP-LN3) cells showed anticancer activity with extracts from six species, excluding P. sargentii, in the following order of cell viability: C. obtusa (8.2%) > C. kousa (15.8%) > A. japonica (35.1%) > Q. glauca (73.9%) > P. amurense (78.6%) > P. densiflora (86.3%). Cell viability was assessed for colon cancer cell lines Caco-2 and HCT15, where extracts from C. kousa (71.7% for Caco-2 and 69.9% for HCT15), C. obtusa (8.0% for Caco-2 and 7.1% for HCT15), and Q. glauca (89.9% for Caco-2) demonstrated significant inhibition of cell proliferation. For melanoma (B16F10) and breast cancer (MDA-MB-231) cell lines, extracts from C. kousa (63.8% and 66.3%, respectively) and C. obtusa (6.7% and 7.3%, respectively) showed strong anticancer activity, significantly reducing cell viability. This study suggests that the extracts from seven species of seeds can have a potent anticancer effect on specific cancer cell lines and confirms their potential as an important step in the development of anticancer ingredients derived from perennial tree seeds.
