Polyphenol-rich strawberry extract (PRSE) shows in vitro and in vivo biological activity against invasive breast cancer cells.

Stefano Amatori,Josè Miguel Alvarez-Suarez,Tamara Yuliett Forbes-Hernandez,Mirco Fanelli,Francesca Giampieri,Luca Mazzoni,Massimiliano Gasparrini,Bruno Mezzetti,Augusto Amici,Giuseppe Persico,Alfredo Errico Provenzano,Maurizio Battino,Sadia Afrin

doi:10.1038/srep30917

Abstract

We describe the biological effects of a polyphenol-rich strawberry extract (PRSE), obtained from the “Alba” variety, on the highly aggressive and invasive basal-like breast cancer cell line A17. Dose-response and time-course experiments showed that PRSE is able to decrease the cellular viability of A17 cells in a time- and dose-dependent manner. PRSE effect on cell survival was investigated in other tumor and normal cell lines of both mouse and human origin, demonstrating that PRSE is more active against breast cancer cells. Cytofluorimetric analysis of A17 cells demonstrated that sub-lethal doses of PRSE reduce the number of cells in S phase, inducing the accumulation of cells in G1 phase of cell cycle. In addition, the migration of A17 cells was studied monitoring the ability of PRSE to inhibit cellular mobility. Gene expression analysis revealed the modulation of 12 genes playing different roles in the cellular migration, adhesion and invasion processes. Finally, in vivo experiments showed the growth inhibition of A17 cells orthotopically transplanted into FVB syngeneic mice fed with PRSE. Overall, we demonstrated that PRSE exerts important biological activities against a highly invasive breast cancer cell line both in vitro and in vivo suggesting the strawberry extracts as preventive/curative food strategy.

Highlights

In the last decades, the ability of phytochemicals to modulate apoptosis signaling pathways has attracted increasing attention as an anti-cancer agent[1]
Evidence supports the idea that tumor growth, recurrence and metastasis formation are dependent on cells with self-renewal properties, termed cancer initiating cells (CICs) or cancer stem cells (CSCs)[21]
The nutritional and phytochemical composition of PRSE was characterized by analyzing vitamin C content, phytochemical levels and the total antioxidant capacity (TAC) of the extract

Summary

Introduction

The ability of phytochemicals to modulate apoptosis signaling pathways has attracted increasing attention as an anti-cancer agent[1]. Several studies on extracts of strawberries, raspberries, and other fruits and berries, did not found any correlations between the content of some phytochemicals and inhibition of cancer cell proliferation[15,16]. Different studies have shown that the complex mixtures of phytochemicals present in fruits and vegetables are more effective than their individual constituents in preventing cancer, through both additive and synergistic effects[17,18]. For this reason, it is important to study potential anticancer activity of fruits and vegetables using whole extracts containing all phytochemicals, using purified molecules or fractions enriched in certain classes of molecules. In this study we investigated the biological activity of “Alba” strawberry extract on breast cancer, with a particular focus on the A17 cellular model

Methods

Results

Conclusion