Evaluation of the Anticancer Activities of the Plant Alkaloids Sanguinarine and Chelerythrine in Human Breast Adenocarcinoma Cells.
BACKGROUND
Breast cancer is associated with a high mortality rate around the world due to its aggressiveness and high resistance to conventional therapies. Sanguinarine (SAN) and Chelerythrine (CHE) are plant alkaloids extracted from Sanguinaria canadensis and Macleaya cordata, which have been studied for their bioactivities.


OBJECTIVE
To determine the anticancer activities of Sanguinarine (SAN) and Chelerythrine (CHE) plant alkaloids.


METHOD
The MTT assay, the alkaline comet assay and cell cycle analyses by flow cytometry were performed.


RESULTS
It was observed that SAN was cytotoxic to human breast adenocarcinoma cells (MCF-7) at concentrations of 7.5 µM (24 and 48 hours), effectively reducing cell viability from the concentration of 10 µM for 24 hours and 7.5 µM for 48 hours, by the MTT test. CHE, in turn, was cytotoxic at concentrations of 10 and 20 µM (48 hours), but did not compromise the cellular viability. The comet assay indicated that SAN was genotoxic to the MCF-7 cells, with a significant increment of damage at 10 µM, while none of the tested concentrations of CHE showed a genotoxic effect. The flow cytometry analysis indicated that no cell cycle arrest was caused by both alkaloids, but SAN 10 µM induced a sub-G1 cell population.


CONCLUSION
The results of cytotoxicity, genotoxicity and cell cycle monitoring that are presented in this paper have suggested that SAN has more of a chemotherapeutic activity, as well as having the potential for the development of new therapies for breast cancer, when compared to CHE.
['Almeida|Igor V|IV|', 'Fernandes|Liliane M|LM|', 'Biazi|Bruna I|BI|', 'Vicentini|Veronica E P|VEP|']
D000230:Adenocarcinoma D000972:Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic D053119:Benzophenanthridines D001943:Breast Neoplasms D049109:Cell Proliferation D002470:Cell Survival D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug D004354:Drug Screening Assays, Antitumor D005260:Female D006801:Humans D007546:Isoquinolines D015394:Molecular Structure D028101:Papaveraceae D031681:Sanguinaria D013329:Structure-Activity Relationship D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
breast cancer cell viability Apoptosis DNA damage MCF-7 cells. benzo[c]phenanthridine alkaloid