Evaluation of cytotoxic effects of three homeopathy remedies (Sepia, Phosphorus and Pulsatilla) in the breast cancer cell line, MCF-7

Breast cancer is the second common cancer in women at worldwide. Furthermore, patients with breast cancer generally use complementary  and integrative medicine such as homeopathy. It has been shown that homeopathic remedies such as Sepia, Phosphorus and Pulsatilla have great effects in the various diseases such as some of the cancers. However, the cytotoxicity effects of these compounds have not been studied for breast cancer cell lines such asMCF-7. Hence, the aim of this study was to investigate the cytotoxic effects of these homeopathic remedies on breast cancer cell line. 

Materials & Methods

Breast cancer cells (MCF-7) were cultured in DMEM medium and treated with different potencies (30 and 200) of remedies for 24, 48 and 72 h. Cell viability was determined by MTT assay.

The findings indicate that none of the tested compounds had cytotoxicity effect on MCF-7 cancer cells.

This study shows that Sepia, Phosphorus and Pulsatilla as the three of homeopathic remedies have not in vitro cytotoxic effects on breast cancer cell line, and it seems that further studies on different cell lines and also in vivo studies are needed to confirm these findings.