Abstract
Purpose: Breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related death in women worldwide. Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify and develop therapeutic strategies against this deadly disease. This study is the first to investigate the cytotoxic effects and the mechanism of cell death of Scrophularia oxysepala extracts in MCF-7 human breast cancer cells. Methods: Three extracts of Scrophularia oxysepala including the n-hexane, dichloromethane and methanol extracts were examined. MTT (3-(4,5-dimetylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) and Trypan-blue assays were performed in MCF-7 cells as well as Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) to analyze the cytotoxic activity of the extracts of Scrophularia oxysepala. Further, the apoptosis inducing action of the extracts was determined by TUNEL (terminal deoxy transferase (TdT)-mediated dUTP nick- end labeling) test and cell death assay. Results: The results showed that the n-hexane extract had no cytotoxic effects but dichloromethane and methanol extracts significantly inhibited cell growth and viability in a dose and time dependent manner without inducing damage to non-cancerous cell line HUVEC. In addition, Cell death assay and DNA fragmentation analysis using TUNEL indicated induction of apoptosis by dichloromethane and methanol extracts of Scrophularia oxysepala in MCF-7 cells. Conclusion: Our studies suggest that this plant may contain potential bioactive compound(s) for the treatment of breast cancer.