Synergistic and dose-dependent effects of pinostrobin, pinocembrin and pinobanksin on different breast cancer cell lines

Abstract

In this study, the cytotoxic and apoptotic effects of three phenolic compounds highly found in the poplar type propolis; pinostrobin (PS), pinocembrin (PC) and pinobanksin (PB), were investigated individually and in combination on hormon-positive (MCF-7) and triple negative (MDA-MB-231) breast cancer cell lines and fibrocystic breast epithelium (MCF-10A) as control. Assessment of cytotoxicity and apoptosis were performed with WST-1 and Annexin V-7AAD assays, respectively. All statistical analyses including the two-way ANOVA and multiple-t-test were performed using GraphPad Prism software. Individually, PB (P0.05). On MCF-7, the triple combination induced cytotoxic/apoptotic effects even with the 25% dose and 50% dose on MDA-MB-231(p<0.0001). Our findings clearly showed that different combinations of these phenolic substances can have synergistic cytotoxic effects and even hormetic effects in non-tumorogenic cells.

Keywords

• breast cancer cell line
• cytotoxicity
• pinobanksin
• pinocembrin
• pinostrobin
• propolis