Anti-tumor Effect of the Ethanolic Extract of Vinca herbacea on Human Breast Cancer Cell Line: A Mechanism Study

Breast cancer is extensively studied for its resistanceto chemotherapy. Therefore, finding efficient therapeutic agents is vital to increasing the survival rate of patients.

Here, we conducted an in vitrostudy on the anti-tumor properties of Vinca herbacea extract on SKBR3 cells.

Apoptotic and anti-invasive activity of V. herbaceaextract was studied using Annexin FITC-V kit and Matrigel invasive assay, respectively. The expression of angiogenesis genes (VEGFR-1, VEGFR-2, and VEGF-A), apoptotic-related genes (Bcl-2and BAX), as well as metastatic genes (MMP2and MMP9) were studied using real-timepolymerase chain reaction.

Vinca herbaceaextractshowed significant antiproliferative and cytotoxic effects on human breast cancer cells, compared to human embryonic kidney cells 293. Vinca herbaceaextract had a great apoptosis-inducing potential in breast cancer cells by activating caspase-3 and increasing the BAX/Bcl-2ratio. Vinca herbaceaextract prevented cancer cell angiogenesis, marked by decreasing the expression level of angiogenesis-relatedgenes, including VEGF, VEGFR-1, andVEGFR-2. In addition, V. herbaceaextracts reduced cancer cell invasion and noticeably decreased the expression level of metastasis-associated genes, including MMP2and MMP9.

Vinca herbaceaextracts exhibited vigorous cytotoxic effects on SKBR3 cells by the alteration of apoptosis, cell adhesion, invasion, and angiogenesis.