Planta Med 2014; 80 - P2B58
DOI: 10.1055/s-0034-1394935

Apoptotic induction of Arantho (Rutaceae) essential oil against breast cancer cells

CC Estanislao Gómez 1, DG Pérez Ishiwara 1, N Pérez Hernández 1, E San Martin Martínez 2, M del Consuelo Gómez García 1
  • 1Escuela Nacional de Medicina y Homeopatía, Instituto Politécnico Nacional. Guillermo Massieu H. 239, Gustavo A. Madero, Residencial La Escalera, 07320 Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal, Mexico
  • 2Centro de Investigación en Ciencia Aplicada y Tecnología Avanzada. Instituto Politécnico Nacional. Legaria 694, Col Irrigación, Miguel Hidalgo, 11500 Ciudad de México, Distrito Federal, Mexico

Breast cancer is an important health problem around the world; in Mexico, it represents the second cause of women death. Due to this, different treatments such as the use of medicinal plants are studied for cancer therapy (1, 2). Arantho (Rutaceae) is a plant widely used in Mexico in traditional medicine for breast cancer treatment. So, the aim of this work was to evaluate the cytotoxic and apoptotic effect of Arantho essential oil (EO) in breast cancer cells. First, the EO of Arantho leaves was obtained by hydrodistillation method and it was evaluated on breast cancer cells by MTT viability assays using different dosis and times of exposition. Then, the occurence of an apoptotic process was analyzed by Annexin V assays, morphological changes, DNA fragmentation and expression of caspases. Results indicated that EO induced a high cytotoxic activity on breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 (Fig. 1), but no in epithelial mammary cell line MCF10A with an IC50 value of 53.81 and 207.51 µg/ml respectively. Annexin V assays demonstrated a high percentage of apoptosis, but no necrosis in breast cancer cells at 24h of EO exposition. Also, some morphological changes such as, membrane blebbing, cell shrinkage, cell size reduction and apoptotic bodies were observed in these cancer cells. DNA fragmentation was activated and the expression of caspases 3 and 9 were induced only in cancer cells exposed to EO. In conclusion EO of Arantho induced a relevant cytotoxic and apoptotic activity on breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231.

Fig. 1: Cytotoxic effect of the EO of Arantho leaves on MBA-MB-231 cells. Cells treated with: a)medium alone; b)Taxol (0.25 µg/ml); c) EO of Arantho leaves (53.81 µg/ml). 10x.

Keywords: Breast cancer, medicinal plant, essential oil, apoptosis

References:

[1] Instituto Nacional de Estadística, Geografía e Informática. 2013. Reporte: Estadísticas a propósito del día mundial contra el cáncer. Datos Nacionales.

[2] Graham, J., Quinn, M., Fabricant, D. y Farnsworth N. 2000. Plants used against cancer, an extension of the work of Jonathan Hartwell. Journal of Ethnopharmacology 73: 347 – 377.