Phycocyanin C a Natural Product with Impressive Therapeutic Efficacy for Inhibition of Breast Tumors’ Growth and Metastasis in Vivo

Background: several studies have reported the anticancer effect of phycocyanin c, a natural extract isolated from the algae arthrospira platensis. however, its therapeutic effects on the growth of breast cancer and its metastasis have not been determined yet. method: in this case-control study, we employed phycocyanin c for the treatment of 4t1 breast tumor as an applicable experimental animal model for human mammary cancer and metastasis. balb/c mice were injected subcutaneously (s.c) into the 4th abdominal mammary fat pad with 1×10^6 4t1 cells. we randomly divided the mice into two groups; one group of mice were injected with pbs as the control, and the other group was intraperitoneally injected with phycocyanin c (80 mg/kg daily for 20 days). tumor growth and metastasis were assessed in both groups. results: phycocyanin c significantly inhibited 4t1 breast tumors growth (p<0.05). the mean tumors volumes at the control group were 2.73 times higher than those of the treatment group. in addition, phycocyanin c treatment could significantly inhibit the formation of metastasis colonies at vital organs like spleen, liver, and lung. moreover, the survival rate of the tumor-bearing mice increased after about 22 days by phycocyanin c treatment in comparison with the control. conclusion: this is the first report demonstrating the anticancer effects of phycocyanin c on 4t1 breast tumor in vivo. overall, our findings provided convincing evidence for the application of phycocyanin c as an anticancer therapeutic agent.