Ethanolic Extract of Berberis Vulgaris Fruits Inhibits the Proliferation of MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cell Line Through Induction of Apoptosis

Abstract

Background: As it is obvious, there is much documentation that shows the importance of breast cancer treatment in patients. High expressions of P53 and Bcl-2 are associated with breast cancer, which are reliable factors to follow up the breast cancer. Berberis vulgaris is used as a traditional medicine in cancer. Despite of the fact that many researches have demonstrated its anti-cancer properties, there are no scientific documents to show its efficacy in detail in breast cancer.

Objective: Because of traditional use of B. vulgaris and little knowledge about its effects, our research was focused on determining the efficacy and toxicity of B. vulgaris. For this reason, we determined the efficacy of B. vulgaris on breast cancer cells.

Method: As described in Method section, standard protocols including MTT assay and qPCR were performed to identify the effect of B. vulgaris ethanolic extract against breast cancer cells.

Results: Our results clearly demonstrated that 35 mg/ml had IC50 against 3t3 normal cells, and 9 mg/ml of B. vulgaris was effective against MCF-7 breast cancer cells. The results demonstrated that even at only 1 mg/ml concentration of B. vulgaris, crude extract was effective, 9 mg/ml and 12 mg/ml of extract had better anti-cancer activity compared with doxorubicin.

Conclusion: Despite that the role of anticancer properties of B. vulgaris was clearly defined in some patents, our results demonstrated the potency of B. vulgaris against breast cancer, but further analysis should be performed to candidate this herb as an anti-breast cancer drug.

Keywords: Bcl-2; Berberis vulgaris; MCF-7; breast neoplasms; crude extract; p53..