Abstract
Trigonella foenum has a role in cancer treatment. This study tries to evaluate the effect of germination on the anticancer activity of fenugreek seeds. We prepared a dry and germinated aqueous extract from fenugreek seeds. We investigated the growth inhibitory effect of both extracts on MCF7 human breast and Pancreatic (AsPC-1) cells. Fenugreek extracts induced significant effect on cell viability, increased caspase-3 & 6 concentrations and LDH activity and caused nucleosomal DNA fragments. In summary, our results indicated that both dry and germinated extracts induced apoptosis in both cell lines. The effect of germinated extract was higher than that of the dry extract. This can be explained as germination increased the antioxidant characters of the extract. Germination also increased the phytochemical components (flavonoids, tannin, steroids, alkaloids, phytate, phenolics and trigonellin) of the extract which are believed to have anti-tumor activity.