O16 Phyto-oestrogenic property of mimosine: A phenylalanine alkaloid

Abstract

Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has been generally used in postmenopausal symptoms in women caused by a lack of endogenous oestrogen. However, due to the increased concern around the potential associated risks of breast and endometrial cancer there is an increased demand for natural oestrogenic agents with lesser side effects. Mimosine is a phenylalanine class of alkaloid. It has been reported that, another phenylalanine alkaloid capsaicine and its analogues possess oestrogenic activity. Therefore, this study was designed to investigate the oestrogen like activity of mimosine by using in vitro assays with the ER positive MCF-7 cell line and in silico models. Cell viability by cellular count and MTT cell proliferation assays were performed using the oestrogen-dependent MCF-7 breast cancer cells. The regulation of oestrogen marker TFF1 and PGR gene expression were also studied. The binding ability of mimosine to ER α was predicted by in silico docking method. The results indicated that mimosine caused significant cell proliferation ( P P P P α binding site as compared to estradiol. The results indicate the oestrogenicity of mimosine for the first time and suggest that, it can be further studied and developed as an alternative to HRT for postmenopausal women.