The Comparison of Anticancer ‎Properties of Collected Saffron ‎from Different Region of Iran on ‎Human Breast Cancer Cells

Cancer is a disease that results from the uncontrolled proliferation of cells. Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide. The most common treatment methods of breast cancer are surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy, which each have adverse side effects for patients. In this way, efforts are being made to identify new chemotherapeutic compounds that have fewer side effects or reduce their side effects on normal cells. Saffron has been considered by researchers in cancer treatment due to its various medicinal compounds. In this study, according to various reports on the anti-cancer effect of saffron, the anti-cancer properties of cultivated saffron in different regions of Iran was investigated against two breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231). First, aqueous and methanolic extracts were prepared from the samples and then their cytotoxic effect at different concentrations on the viability of both cell lines at 48 and 72 hours was investigated by MTT assay. The results showed that these extracts did not have a significant cytotoxic effect on the MDA-MB-231 cell line, but the effect of these extracts on the MCF-7 cell line was becoming evident at higher concentrations and increasing time. The cultivated saffron in Gonabad region had greatest cytotoxic effect. Also, the cytotoxic effect of the methanolic extracts was more than the aqueous extracts.