Abstract
Breast cancer ranked the 2nd amongst all cancer in terms of mortality worldwide.
We evaluated the anticancer, apoptotic activity and toxicity of the polyherbal formulation, HF8, prescribed by the herbalist in Saudi Arabia.
HF8 was prepared by mixing different proportion of plants namely Rosmarinus officinalis. L, Vitis vinifera seeds, Cichorium intybus seeds, Trigonella foenum-graecum L seeds, Lavandula multifida L., Pistacia lentiscus resin, commiphora myrrha resin, and Viola odorata flower. The HF8 was evaluated for its cytotoxicity using human breast adenocarcinoma (MCF-7, and MDA-MB-231 cells) cell lines.
The result revealed promising cytotoxicity on the MCF-7 (IC50: 107 µg/mL) and MDA-MB-231 (IC50: 89.5 µg/mL) cell lines. Further, HF8 was assessed for its apoptotic potential using acridine orange (AO)/ethidium bromide (EB) dual staining and Caspase-3/7. After incubation with MDA-MB-231, the HF8 inducted apoptosis through the activation of caspase-3/7. The toxicity of the HF8 was assessed using zebrafish and Swiss Albino mice. The zebrafish embryos did not show any noticeable toxicities or teratogenicity when treated with HF8 with a concentration from 0.001 to 300 µg/ml. In acute toxicity, no mortality detected after a single dose (5000 mg/kg) administration to Swiss Albino mice of both genders.
HF8 extract has the potential for development into a potent anticancer agent against breast cancer, albeit further studies are needed to evaluate the mechanism of action as well as validation of other drug development processes.