anti-proliferative effects of hydroxytyrosol against breast cancer cell lines through induction of apoptosis

Background: due to high mortality of patients with metastatic breast cancer and limited strategies for management of this malignancy, development of novel therapeutic approaches and anti-cancer agents is essential. objectives: in the present study, we investigated in vitro anti-proliferative effects of hydroxytyrosol, as a natural chemotherapeutic agent, against breast cancer cells mda-mb-231 and mcf-7. methods: the anti-proliferation activity of hydroxytyrosol on both mda-mb-231 and mcf-7 breast cancer cells was evaluated by mtt assay. apoptosis percentage was assessed by flow cytometry in the treated and untreated cancer cells. moreover, the expression of three apoptotic genes ( bax, bcl2, and casp3) was evaluated by real-time pcr in the treated cancer cells. results: our results indicated that hydroxytyrosol exerted an appropriate anti-proliferation activity on both mda-mb-231 and mcf-7 cancer cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. we observed a significant increase in apoptosis percentage in both treated cancer cells compared with untreated controls. in addition, hydroxytyrosol upregulated pro-apoptotic baxand casp3genes while downregulated anti-apoptotic bcl2gene. conclusions: the findings of the present study suggested an appropriate anti-proliferation effect by hydroxytyrosol that may be due to apoptosis induction through modification of expression of apoptotic genes in breast cancer cells.