Peganum harmala L.’s anti-growth effect on a breast cancer cell line

This research was done to evaluate the induction of apoptosis in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell line by Peganum harmala’s extract, in which a significant amount of ß-carbolines is included. The apoptosis incidence was assessed through Annexin-V-Flous kit. The expressions of genes through which intrinsic apoptosis pathway are involved, Bax, Bcl-2, Bid, and Puma, over the genes the expressions of which are linked to extrinsic apoptosis pathway, TRAIL, Caspase8, p21, and p53, were examined by RT-PCR and Real-time PCR. The results demonstrate that the extract decreases the growth rate of the cancer cell line through inducing apoptosis mechanism. As long as the expression of anti-apoptosis Bcl-2 gen reduced dramatically, an over-expression in Bax and Puma genes was monitored indicating activation of intrinsic apoptosis pathway. A notable over-expression observed with TRAIL and Caspase8 genes as well as Bid gene. The latter is an intermediate for both intrinsic and extrinsic pathways of apoptosis.