Saponin is an important class of natural products that can be found primarily in many plants, as well as
in some marine animals. It has a diverse range of properties, which include pharmacological and medicinal
properties, strong hemolytic properties, as well as antimicrobial, insecticidal, and anticancer activities. Our study
aimed to isolate the saponin from different plant sources (legumes) and to evaluate its hemolytic and cytotoxic
activity in higher plant source. In this study the saponin was extracted from legumes using choloroform and
ethanol. The concentration of saponin was determined by colorimetric method. Soybean saponin source was loaded
on silica gel column chromatography and was detected by thin layer chromatography (TLC), infrared spectroscopy
(IR) and confirmed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). In addition the hemolytic activity of
soybean saponin was evaluated on human blood erythrocyte and the cytotoxic effect on human colon cancer cell
line (Coca) was determined by using MTT assay. Our result showed the presence of blue violet spot on thin layer
chromatography in soya been saponin and confirmed by IR spectrum by presence of C-H bond of at 2927cm-1, CO
stretching at 1059 cm-1,C=C bond at 1628cm-1 and OH bond at 3400cm-1. Hemolytic dose (HD50) that made
hemolysis for 50% of erythrocyte was 0.412 mg /ml. MTT assay releaved that saponin extracted from soya bean
had IC50 43.4μg/ml against colon cancer cell line in 48hr treatment. In conclusion, Soya saponin inhibits the
proliferation of colon cancer and thus it may have therapeutic application in future.