Comparison of the potential of extracts from the flower, fruit pulp, and seed of Cassia fistula L. on MCF-7 breast cancer cell growth and cell migration

Abstract

This study aimed to determine the anticancer effects of extracts prepared from various parts of Cassia fistula L. (CF), i.e., flower extract (FE), fruit pulp extract (FPE) and seed extract (SE), on MCF-7 breast cancer cells. The anticancer effects of the extracts were assessed for cell toxicity, cell proliferation, cell migration, cell apoptosis, and production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Effective cancer treatments have focused on inhibiting epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signalling. Thus, the expression of EGFR protein after extract-treated cells was also determined. Following a 72 incubation, high potential cytotoxicity on MCF-7 cells was observed after SE treatment, followed by FE and FPE treatment. FE, FPE, and SE significantly inhibited cell growth at concentrations of 500, 1,000, and 250 µg/mL, respectively. Also, FE, FPE, and SE markedly suppressed migration of MCF-7 cells at concentrations of 500, 500, and 100 µg/mL, respectively. These results can be concluded that SE had the highest potential anticancer effect on MCF-7 cells when compared with FE and FPE. Thus, SE might be a potential source of preventative and therapeutic agents against breast cancer. Since most anticancer drugs cause ROS production in cancer cells and it is known that ROS induce cell death; therefore, cell apoptosis and ROS formation induced by SE were further studied. The results showed SE induced MCF-7 cell apoptosis in a concentration-dependent way. SE caused a significant increase in ROS formation when compared with the control group. Western blot analysis showed low levels of EGFR protein expression after SE-treated cells at 1,000 mg/mL. Therefore, besides ROS formation, it may be concluded that the downregulation of EGFR protein expression is potentially one of the fundamental mechanisms driving the anticancer effects of SE.