Exploring anti-cancer constituents and cytotoxic effects of Feijoa sellowiana fruit extract on breast cancer

Abstract

Breast cancer remains a leading cause of mortality among women, necessitating heightened attention and innovative treatment approaches. Given the heterogeneous nature of breast cancer, exploring novel therapeutic avenues is crucial. Natural products, with their potential to offer less aggressive alternatives to conventional chemotherapy, have garnered interest. In this study, the potential cytotoxic effect of Feijoa sellowiana fruit extract (FE) was investigated on a panel of human breast cancer cells. GC-MS analysis was performed to identify the active constituents present in the FE extract and MTT analysis was conducted to evaluate the cytotoxicity of FE against breast cancer cells. Results showed a strong efficacy of FE against MDA-MB-453 and MDA-MB-231 cell lines. The cytotoxicity was evident after a 24-hour treatment duration for both lines. It was observed that the two cell lines in which the FE extract was most effective belonged to the triple-negative breast cancer category. The viability of MCF-7 cells decreased to 23.2% after 72 hours of exposure to 1000 μg/mL FE, and this decline was also noticeable at lower concentrations. Conversely, the BT-474 cell line displayed the least susceptibility, with a viability of 43.9% even at the highest concentration of 1000 μg/mL FE. These findings underscore FE's targeted efficacy against triple-negative breast cancer cells, indicating its promise as an alternative avenue to tackle this formidable cancer subtype.