Cell Proliferation and Apoptotic Induction by Ruqyah Shar’iyyah Verses on MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cell

Abstract

Ruqyah Syar’iyyah, which is the verses of Qur’anic and sunnah practiced for healing purposes,  is one of the contemporary and alternative medicine (CAM). Various studies have proven the effectiveness of Qur’anic recitation in boosting spiritual and psychological behaviour among cancer patients but few studies proved its effectiveness on cancer cell lines scientifically. Therefore, this study was aimed to evaluate the effects of Ruqyah Shar’iyyah on MCF-7 breast cancer cell lines on cell proliferation and morphology. The study involved direct Qur’anic verses recitation exposure to MCF-7 cell line for 12- and  24-hour treatment and their apoptotic and proliferation activities were observed using trypan  blue exclusion assay and inverted phase contrast microscope. The results showed that cell proliferation in treatment groups were slightly lower than control groups for both 12 and 24 hours with 95.69% in control as compared to 93.54% of cell viability in treated cell line for 12- hour treatment. Meanwhile, the 24-hour treatment demonstrated 95.11% of cell viability in control group while 92.34% in treated group. The morphology also exhibited apoptotic cells were observed more in treated compared to control group. Though the results are insignificant,  it gives better insight about the effects of Ruqyah Shar’iyyah recitation on breast cancer cell  lines. This study recommends extending the treatment times to obtain significant results.