Heartwood extract of Acacia catechu induces apoptosis in human breast carcinoma by altering bax/bcl-2 ratio

BACKGROUND: The heartwood extract of A. catechu, called pale catechu or “Katha” in Hindi has been widely used in traditional Indian medicinal system. Although various pharmacological properties of this plant had been reported previously, only a few were concerned with the anticancer activity of this plant. OBJECTIVE: The objective was to assess the in vitro anticancer and apoptosis inducing effect of 70% methanolic extract of “Katha” (ACME) on human breast adenocarcinoma cell line (MCF-7). MATERIALS AND METHODS: MCF-7 cell line was treated with increasing concentrations of ACME and cell viability was calculated. Flow cytometric methods were used to confirm the apoptosis promoting role of ACME. Morphological changes were then analysed using confocal microscopy. Western blotting was then performed to investigate the expression of apoptogenic proteins and to analyse the activation of caspases. RESULTS: ACME showed significant cytotoxicity to MCF-7 cells with an IC(50) value of 288.85 ± 25.79 μg/ml. Flow cytometric analysis and morphological studies confirmed that ACME is able to induce apoptosis in MCF-7 cells. Furthermore, immunoblot results suggested the pathway of apoptosis induction by increasing Bax/Bcl-2 ratio which results in the activation of caspase-cascade and ultimately leads to the cleavage of Poly adeno ribose polymerase (PARP). CONCLUSION: These results provide the evidence that ACME is able to inhibit the proliferation of MCF-7 cells by inducing apoptosis through intrinsic pathway.