Comparative anticancer activities of Ficus carica and Ficus salicifolia latex in MDA-MB-231 cells

Ficus latex is rich in polyphenolic compounds and hence considered as an antioxidant and anti-proliferative. Many studies are available on Ficus carica (common fig) whereas Ficus salicifolia is less studied. F. salicifolia grows in a harsh dry environment, therefore its latex was selected in the current study along with the F. carica for their comparative anti-cancer potential and the involved molecular mechanism. Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) derived MDA-MB-231 cells were used in the study. MTT and morphological studies indicated that the latex of both plants has anti-proliferative effects. To know their anti-metastatic effects, a wound-healing assay was performed. Both species were able to maintain the wound size compared to the untreated cells indicating their anti-metastatic effects. Using a DNA damage assay kit, we found that both fig species have genotoxic and cytotoxic effects in MDA-MB-231 cells compared to the untreated control. To know the potential molecular mechanism involved, we used a human kinase array kit. We found that ERK2, CREB, and AKT2 were downregulated after treatment the MDA-Mb-231 cells with the latex of F. carica. We assumed that F. salicifolia will also affect the same pathways, however after confirmation through real-time (RT)-PCR, downregulations of the above mentioned pathways were confirmed in cells treated with F. carica latex, however, in cells treated with F. salicifolia the selected genes were upregulated at the transcriptional level. We conclude that latex of both species of ficus have anti-cancer effects in MDA-MB-231 cells, however differ in their level of toxicity and the mechanism of action at the molecular level.