Vagiheh Soltaninejad - Department of Pathobiology School of Veterinary Medicine, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
Nasrin Kazemipour - Department of Basic Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
Mohammad Mehdi Yaghoobi - Department of Biotechnology, Institute of Science and High Technology and Environmental Sciences, Graduate University of Advanced Technology, Kerman, Iran

Introduction: Propolis is a rich mixture of polyphenols, flavonoid aglycones, phenolic compounds and ketones. Many reports revealed that propolis has anticancer effect on diverse cancer cell lines. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Dimethyl Sulfoxcide extract of propolis obtained from sirch area (DESP) on nonaggressive breast cancer cell line MCF-۷ and aggressive cell lines SK-BR-۳, and MDA-MB-۲۳۱. Method: The three cancer cell lines were cultured and treated with four concentrations (۱۰, ۵۰, ۱۰۰ and ۲۰۰ μg/mL) of DESP for ۲۴ and ۴۸ h. MTT, BrdU and flow cytometry assays were used for measuring cytotoxicity, cell proliferation, cell cycle and apoptosis. Results: The results of MTT assay demonstrated that DESP was cytotoxic for all the three cell lines in a dose and time-dependent manner. The highest cytotoxicity on SKBR-۳ and MCF-۷ cell lines was seen at ۲۴ and ۴۸ h (P<۰.۰۰۰۱). Cell cycle analysis showed that DESP induced G۰/G۱ phase arrest in MCF-۷ cell and S phase arrest in MDA-MB-۲۳۱ and SKBR-۳ cells following treatment at ۱۰۰ μg/mL for ۴۸ h(P ?). The DESP also induced early and late stages apoptosis in MCF-۷ and SKBR-۳ cells and late stage apoptosis in MDA-MB-۲۳۱ cell. Conclusion: Collectively, our results demonstrated that the DESP is a natural anticancer agent capable of reducing cancer cell proliferation and inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in all of the three breast cancer cell lines.

propolis, dimethyl sulfoxide extract, breast cancer, cytotoxic effect, apoptosis