The effect of Echium amoenum hydro-methanolic extract on MCF-7 and MDA-MB468 breast cancer cell lines and increasing the cytotoxicity of doxorubicin

Chemotherapy is one of the most common and important treatments in the fight against breast cancer, but drug resistance to these drugs reduces the success of the treatment. Today, extensive research is focused on the role of herbal compounds in increasing the effect of chemotherapeutic drugs. This study was conducted to investigate the effect of hydro-methanolic extract of Echium amoenum on two breast cancer cell lines MCF-7 and MDA-MB468 and its role in the cytotoxic activity of doxorubicin.

The effect of Echium amoenum extract and doxorubicin alone or in combination were examined at two incubation times of 24 and 48 hours. Cells were seeded at a density of 104 cells per well in 96-well plates, and after treatment with different concentrations of extract and drug, their viability was measured by MTT assay.

Echium amoenum extract showed a high cytotoxic effect on breast cancer cells, while it had less toxicity on normal cells. The extract at the highest tested concentration reduced the percentage of viable cells in MCF-7 cells and in MDA-MB468 cells to 10.59 ± 0.72 and 12.22 ± 0.78%, respectively. The inhibitory effect of doxorubicin was 19.31 ± 0.92 and 18.13% ± 0.99 for MCF-7 and MDA-MB468 cells, respectively. IC50 of the extract in 24 and 48 hours incubation was calculated, for MCF-7 cells, 2.41 and 1.78 mg/ml, respectively, and for MDA-MB468 cells, 2.41 and 1.78 mg/ml, respectively.. The extract also showed a significant effect in increasing the cytotoxicity of doxorubicin. The maximum effect was seen with a concentration of 5 mg/ml of extract on a concentration of 1 μg/ml of doxorubicin in 48 hours incubation. The percentage of survival in MCF-7 and MDA-MB468 cells was decreased from 46.38 ± 1.80 to 24.23 ± 1.46 and from 55.30 ± 1.95 to 35.99 ± 1.40, respectively.

Echium amoenum extract effectively killed the breast cancer cells in vitro and increased the cytotoxicity of doxorubicin. Further evaluation of the anti-tumor effects of the extract can be done in vivo.
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