Screening of antiproliferative effect of aqueous extracts of plant foods consumed in México on the breast cancer cell line MCF-7

Int J Food Sci Nutr. 2009:60 Suppl 6:32-46. doi: 10.1080/09637480802312922.

Abstract

We evaluated the antiproliferative effect of aqueous extracts of 14 plant foods consumed in Mexico on the breast cancer cell line MCF-7. The plant foods used were avocado, black sapote, guava, mango, prickly pear cactus stems (called nopal in Mexico, cooked and raw), papaya, pineapple, four different cultivars of prickly pear fruit, grapes and tomato. β-Carotene, total phenolics and gallic acid contents and the antioxidant capacity, measured by the ferric reducing/antioxidant power and the 2,2-diphenyl-1,1-picrylhydrazyl radical scavenging assays, were analyzed in each aqueous extract. Only the papaya extract had a significant antiproliferative effect measured with the methylthiazolydiphenyl-tetrazolium bromide assay. We did not notice a relationship between the total phenolic content and the antioxidant capacity with antiproliferative effect. It is suggested that each extract of plant food has a unique combination of the quantity and quality of phytochemicals that could determine its biological activity. Besides, papaya represents a very interesting fruit to explore its antineoplastic activities.

Publication types

  • Comparative Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic / analysis
  • Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic / chemistry
  • Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic / pharmacology*
  • Antioxidants / analysis
  • Antioxidants / chemistry
  • Antioxidants / pharmacology*
  • Breast Neoplasms / drug therapy*
  • Breast Neoplasms / prevention & control
  • Carica / chemistry
  • Cell Proliferation / drug effects
  • Diet / ethnology*
  • Drug Discovery*
  • Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor
  • Female
  • Free Radical Scavengers / analysis
  • Free Radical Scavengers / chemistry
  • Free Radical Scavengers / pharmacology
  • Fruit / chemistry*
  • Gallic Acid / analysis
  • Humans
  • MCF-7 Cells
  • Mexico
  • Phenols / analysis
  • Plant Extracts / chemistry
  • Plant Extracts / pharmacology*
  • Plants, Edible / chemistry
  • Vegetables / chemistry
  • beta Carotene / analysis

Substances

  • Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic
  • Antioxidants
  • Free Radical Scavengers
  • Phenols
  • Plant Extracts
  • beta Carotene
  • Gallic Acid