Anticancer potential of bee venom and propolis combined treatment on human breast adenocarcinoma cell line [MCF-7]

Backgrounds: Natural remedies were used for cancer treatments, particular breast cancer. Also, the consumption of food products containing high amount of flavonoids and antioxidants had reported to lower the risk of various cancers. Bee venom [BV] and propolis were produced by honey bee. They were characterized by naturopathic formulation, affordability and containing high amount of antioxidants. Moreover, they were used safely since ancient times globally. Although that, there is no information about the synergistic or antagonistic anticancer effects of their combination. This study was designed to evaluate cytotoxic and pro-apoptotic effects of BV, propolis, and their combination on breast cancer [MCF-7] cells

Materials and Methods: As preliminary study, MCF-7 cells were treated with BV [5, 10, and 20micro g/ml] and propolis [50, 150, and 450micro g/ml] to specify the desired combination doses of each treatment with no anticancer effect individually. Consequently, doses of [5micro g/ml BV+ 50micro g/ml propolis and 5micro g/ml BV+ 150micro g/ml propolis] were chosen to evaluate the possible synergistic anticancer potential between them. All groups in this study were examined at 2, 4, and 12 hours intervals. The morphological changes were evaluated by acridine orange/ ethidium bromide dual fluorescent staining and Giemsa staining to reveal the formation of apoptotic bodies or nuclear condensation and cytoplasmic blebbing, respectively. DNA fragmentation assay was also carried out to record the reduction in DNA content and apoptosis. Bcl-2 expression, cytoplasmic anti-apoptotic marker, was used to prove the apoptotic properties, and autophagic cell death by florescent microscopy was evaluated also

Results: Morphological observation by inverted and florescent microscopy revealed apoptotic cell death under exposure to BV [10 and 20micro g/ml] and propolis [450micro g/ml]. On the other hand, the results of combined treatments revealed significant morphological alterations after fluorescent and Giemsa staining. Apoptotic DNA fragmentation was clearly observed and Bcl-2 recoded significant down regulation which proved the apoptotic properties of combined treatments. Additionally, autophagic degradation results also supported the occurrence of stress on treated cells leading finally to cell death. All results of powerful anticancer potential were obvious among all combined-treated groups in dose and time dependent manner. This clear that, the combined treatments have possible synergistic effect which, propose it as potential candidates to be used in development of chemotherapy

possible protective role of Cymbopogon citratus and salvia officinalis against acrylamide toxicity in albino rats

Acrylamide [ACR] is an organic chemical compound [polymeric material] that is commonly used in biochemistry and biotechnology labs. It may also occur in our daily life in deep-fried foods; baked goods; tap water and smoking which is also a major ACR producer. In this study, ACR induced a degree of genomic DNA damage, in the form of necrosis of rat spleen, when it was given orally [50 mg/kg b.w.] as a single dose in the first day and as a booster dose in the fifth day of the experiment. The efficacy of[1:1] mixture of Cymbopogon citratus and Salvia officinalis leaves aqueous extracts was studied. It was administrated to rats in drinking water daily, at 75 and 150 mg/kg b.w. through the 10 days of experiment, as a protective agent against the damage induced by ACR. The DPPH assay was carried out to estimate the antioxidant activity for the plant mixture against ascorbic acid as a standard antioxidant. The results showed an improvement in genomic DNA of rat spleen treated with ACR after treatment with the mixture at low dose but no change was observed at high dose