Abstract
Bromelain (BR), a protease extracted from Ananas comosus, reportedly possesses pharmacological activities including the reduction of thrombogenesis, and antihypertensive, and antimicrobial effects. This study aimed to investigate the potential effects of BR on oral cancer cells. The effect of BR on the viability of Ca9‐22 and SCC25 cells was determined using the MTT assay. These cells were also treated with different doses of BR, and Western blotting was conducted to monitor apoptosis. Finally, flow cytometry analysis was performed to identify sub‐G1 populations of oral cancer cells. After treatment, the viability of both Ca9‐22 and SCC25 cells was markedly reduced, in a dose‐dependent manner. BR induced poly (ADP‐ribose) polymerase (PARP) and lamin A/C degradation, and generated cleavage products. Flow cytometry analysis showed that BR treatment significantly increased the sub‐G1 population. Our findings therefore indicate that BR has potential as a novel, natural anticarcinogenic medicine.
Highlights
Ananas comosus has been used for centuries by the indigenous inhabitants of Central and South America to treat a range of ailments
Its medicinal qualities are attributed to bromelain (BR), which is extracted from A. comosus and has been available as a pharmaceutical product since 1956 (Taussig & Batkin, 1988)
Ananas comosus extracts were dialyzed with 70% ethanol and concentrated
Summary
Ananas comosus has been used for centuries by the indigenous inhabitants of Central and South America to treat a range of ailments. BR has recently been used clinically to treat various maladies including edema, thrombophlebitis, sinusitis, inflammation, rheumatic arthritis, and as adjuvant in cancer treatment (Yauan, Wahlqvist, He, Yang, & Li, 2006). BR is a bioactive agent possessing remarkable therapeutic properties and is a complex natural mixture of plant cysteine proteases. Adjuvant therapy with external proteases has previously produced positive results in treating cancer, alleviating side effects, and prolonging survival (Zänker, 2001). Earlier reports highlighted the proapoptotic properties of BR in mouse skin tumors and breast cancer cells (Bhui, Prasad, George, & Shukla, 2009). BR acts as an immune modulator by enhancing the impaired immune‐mediated cytotoxicity of monocytes against patient tumor cells (Maurer, 2001) and was shown to possess anticancer properties in hairless mouse skin (Goldstein, Taussig, Gallup, & Koto, 1975)
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