Abstract
Flax straw of flax varieties that are grown for oil production is a by product which represents a considerable biomass source. Therefore, its potential application for human use is of high interest. Our research has revealed that flax straw is rich in flavonoid C-glucosides, including vitexin, orientin, and isoorientin. The objective of this study was to evaluate the cytotoxicity and possible proapoptotic effect of flax straw derived C-glucosides of flavonoids in the human breast adenocarcinoma cell line (MCF-7). The effects of flax straw derived flavonoid C-glucosides on cell proliferation of MCF-7 cells were evaluated by 3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyl-tetrazolium bromide (MTT) and sulforhodamine B assays. The expression of apoptosis-related genes was assessed by real-time PCR. Our data revealed that flax C-glucosides as well as pure compounds are cytotoxic toward MCF-7 cells and inhibit their proliferation. Moreover, the induction of apoptosis was correlated with the changes in the mRNA level of pro-apoptotic genes. Increased expression of bax and caspase-7, -8, and -9 and decreased mRNA expression of bcl-2 was observed, whereas the mRNA levels of p53 and mdm2 were not altered. These results clearly demonstrated that flax straw metabolites effectively induced growth inhibition and apoptosis in human breast adenocarcinoma cells.
Highlights
Flavonoids are among the most abundant polyphenols in plants
The UPLC analysis of the methanol extracts of flax straw revealed the presence of three flavonoid C-glucosides: vitexin, Flax type Vitexin Orientin Isoorientin
Straw of flax varieties which are grown for oil production are leftovers that contribute to the waste material
Summary
Flavonoids are among the most abundant polyphenols in plants Based on their structures, they can be grouped into several subclasses such as flavonols, flavones, isoflavones, flavanones, and flavan-3-ols. They can be grouped into several subclasses such as flavonols, flavones, isoflavones, flavanones, and flavan-3-ols They are accumulated in the vacuoles of plant tissues as O-linked glycosidic conjugates, and as C-glycosides (Harborne, 1993). Most flavonoid C-glycosides are flavones that have been found in bryophytes, ferns, gymnosperms, and angiosperms (Harborne, 1993) In cereals such as rice (Oryza sativa), wheat (Triticum aestivum), and maize (Zea mays), C-glycosylflavones are the main class of accumulated flavonoids (Brazier-Hicks et al, 2009). It is known that cereal crops synthesize C-glucosylated flavones through the activity of C-glycosyltransferases and dehydratase acting on activated 2-hydroxyflavanones (Brazier-Hicks et al, 2009)
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