Cytotoxicity and pro-apoptotic activity of carvacrol on human breast cancer cell line MCF-7

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate anticancer activity of carvacrol against human breast cancer cell line (MCF-7). Cytotoxic of carvacrol was determined by MTT and LDH assays and induction of apoptotic was analysed by expressional analysis of anti- and pro-apoptotic regulatory genes by reverse transcriptase PCR and DNA fragmentation assays. The result showed that the carvacrol cytotoxicity against MCF-7 cancer cells was in dose dependent manner at 24 and 48 h time points (p < 0.05). IC₅₀ of carvacrol at 48 h time point was 244.7 ± 0.71 µM. Carvacrol treated MCF-7 cells showed induction of apoptosis through p53 dependent and Bcl-2/Bax pathway. Also, carvacrol treatment induces caspase-3, -9, and -6 enzymes gene expression and genomic DNA fragmentations. Our study confirmed that the carvacrol inhibited growth and induced apoptosis regulatory genes in MCF-7 cells.