Pistacia lentiscus L. revealed in vitro anti-proliferative activity on MCF-7 breast cancer cells and in vivo anti-mammary cancer effect on C57BL/6 mice through necrosis, anti-inflammatory and antioxidant enhancements

PLoS One. 2024 Apr 18;19(4):e0301524. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0301524. eCollection 2024.

Abstract

Inflammation and oxidative stress are two interconnected processes that play a role in cancer development and progression. In the present research, we aimed to evaluate the anticancer effect of Pistacia lentiscus L. (PL) essential oil (EO) in vitro against MCF-7 breast cancer cells and in vivo in DMBA-mammary cancer induction on female C57BL/6 mice model as well as to investigate its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant potential as implicated mechanism. Our results revealed a new chemotypes-profile of 39 bio-compounds of PL EO. The main chemotypes were terpenoid and ketone compounds. In vitro, PL EO had a potent anti-proliferative activity against MCF-7 cells. In vivo, PL reduced the tumor number, volume, weight and burden values as compared to the DMBA-positive control group (p<0.05). Histopathology data confirmed the protective effect of PL traduced by the presence of necrosis area. PL EO revealed improvement on inflammatory perturbation in the C-RP levels and the complete blood cell count. Finally, PL improved oxidative disorders of lipid peroxidation, thiol groups, hydrogen peroxide and antioxidant enzymes depletion in plasma and mammary tissues. Also, a potent plasma scavenging capacity has been detected. Our data suggested that PL chemotypes inhibited cell proliferation, exerting a potential protective effect against DMBA-mammary cancer through anti-inflammatory and antioxidant enhancements. Targeting inflammation and oxidative stress may represent a promising strategy for breast cancer prevention and treatment.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Anti-Inflammatory Agents / pharmacology
  • Anti-Inflammatory Agents / therapeutic use
  • Antioxidants / pharmacology
  • Antioxidants / therapeutic use
  • Breast Neoplasms* / drug therapy
  • Breast Neoplasms* / pathology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Inflammation / drug therapy
  • MCF-7 Cells
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Necrosis
  • Pistacia*

Substances

  • Antioxidants
  • Anti-Inflammatory Agents

Grants and funding

The authors received no specific funding for this work.