Phytochemical properties and anti-proliferative activity of Olea europaea L. leaf extracts against pancreatic cancer cells.

Chloe Goldsmith,Costas Stathopoulos,Christopher Scarlett,Elham Sadeqzadeh,Quan Vuong,Paul Roach

doi:10.3390/molecules200712992

Chloe Goldsmith, Costas Stathopoulos + Show 4 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules200712992

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Abstract

Olea europaea L. leaves are an agricultural waste product with a high concentration of phenolic compounds; especially oleuropein. Oleuropein has been shown to exhibit anti-proliferative activity against a number of cancer types. However, they have not been tested against pancreatic cancer, the fifth leading cause of cancer related death in Western countries. Therefore, water, 50% ethanol and 50% methanol extracts of Corregiola and Frantoio variety Olea europaea L. leaves were investigated for their total phenolic compounds, total flavonoids and oleuropein content, antioxidant capacity and anti-proliferative activity against MiaPaCa-2 pancreatic cancer cells. The extracts only had slight differences in their phytochemical properties, and at 100 and 200 μg/mL, all decreased the viability of the pancreatic cancer cells relative to controls. At 50 μg/mL, the water extract from the Corregiola leaves exhibited the highest anti-proliferative activity with the effect possibly due to early eluting HPLC peaks. For this reason, olive leaf extracts warrant further investigation into their potential anti-pancreatic cancer benefits.

Highlights

Olea europaea L. leaf is a waste product of the olive oil extraction process, weighing up to 10% of the material arriving at the mill
There were no differences between the Corriola and Frantoio varieties in their total phenolic compounds (TPC), total flavonoids and oleuropein content (Table 1) and in their antioxidant capacity (Table 2)
Are expressed as gallic acid equivalents (GAE)/g of extract, total flavonoids are expressed as rutin equivalents (RE)/g of extract and oleuropein is expressed as mmol/g of dried extract

Summary

Introduction

Olea europaea L. leaf (olive leaf) is a waste product of the olive oil extraction process, weighing up to 10% of the material arriving at the mill. This by-product is not profitable; olive leaves are often used as animal feed or burned with excess branches gathered from pruning [1,2]. The interest in olive leaf has grown in recent years due to the high concentration of phenolic compounds, of which oleuropein is the most abundant. Oleuropein has been investigated for its potent anti-cancer activity. The effect of olive phenolic compounds has yet to be investigated for pancreatic cancer

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