Abstract
Sutherlandia frutescens (SF) is a traditional African medicinal aid employed for the treatment of various ailments such as inflammation, pulmonary asthma and congestion. The present study was conducted to demonstrate the differential cellular interaction of aqueous SF extracts in a breast adenocarcinoma epithelial cell line (MCF-7) and a non-tumorigenic breast cell line (MCF-12A) by means of polarization-optical differential interference contrast microscopy, crystal violet staining, light microscopy and flow cytometry. Results showed that aqueous SF extracts induced cell death in MCF-7 and MCF-12A via two types of cell death namely apoptosis and autophagy. Effects on proliferation and cytotoxicity were investigated by means of crystal violet staining. The latter indicated that, at a 1/10 dilution, the tumorigenic MCF-7 cell line was more prominently affected when compared to the non-tumorigenic MCF-12A cell line. Apoptosis induction was demonstrated by qualitative and quantitative light microscopy and cell cycle progression studies, while autophagy induction was assessed by an increase in microtubule-associated protein light chain 3 (LC3) levels (a specific marker of autophagy). The MCF-7 tumorigenic cells, however, were more susceptible to these extracts when compared to the non-tumorigenic MCF-12A cells. Data obtained contribute towards understanding the differential cellular interaction exerted by aqueous SF extracts in tumorigenic versus non-tumorigenic breast cells. Results will enable researchers to further study cell death mechanisms induced by these aqueous extracts and to identify active compounds for evaluation in anticancer therapy and potential in vivo efficacy.
Highlights
Cancer impacts severely on economic and social development, and on human lives
In an effort to gain a better understanding of the mechanism of action of Sutherlandia frutescens (SF) extracts, this study investigated differential in vitro effects of aqueous SF extract A and extract B on a tumorigenic breast cancer cell line and a non-tumorigenic cell line
PlasDIC indicated a decrease in the density of MCF-7 (Fig. 1.1) and MCF-12A (Fig. 1.2) cells treated with extract A and extract B respectively after 48 hours when compared to cells propagated in growth medium and to vehicle-treated cells
Summary
Breast cancer is a major health problem amongst women in South Africa (Vorobiof et al, 2001). According to the National Cancer Registry (2003) it is ranked as the most commonly found cancer among all South African females with the exception of black females where it is ranked as the second most frequently found cancer (Vorobiof et al, 2001; Herbst, 2008). Recent studies performed in our laboratory (Department of Physiology, University of Pretoria, South Africa) and by other researchers revealed that these extracts inhibit cell growth in cancer cell lines namely the human breast adenocarcinoma cell line (MCF-7, MDA-MB468), human promyelocyte (HL60), human prostate cancer cell line (DU-145) and oesophageal cancer cell line (SNO) (Stander et al, 2009; Tai et al, 2004; Steenkamp and Gouws, 2006; Skerman et al, 2011)
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