Therapeutic and Prophylactic Effects of Fulvic Acid on a Breast Cancer Model Established by MCF-7 Cell Line in SCID Mice

Abstract

Introduction. There is still minimal scientific understanding of effects of fulvic acid (FA) on breast cancer. We investigated the prophylactic, therapeutic, and combined effects of FA in a breast cancer model created using MCF-7 cell line in severe combined immunodeficiency disease (SCID) mice. Results. Four experimental groups were established as the control group (Group C), prophylaxis group (Group P), therapeutic group (Group T), and prophylaxis + therapeutic group (Group P + T). Tumor growth was observed by the in vivo imaging system and macroscopically in mammary glands of all mice (100%) of Group C, microscopically in only one mouse of Group P (12.5%), in four mice in Group T (50%), but only one animal (12.5%) in Group P + T. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) showed that p53 staining was significantly higher in tissues of Group C compared to other groups (P < 0.05). No difference was found in IHC scores for p53 between Group P and P + T (P > 0.05). Bcl-2 staining was significantly higher in Group C compared to Group P + T (P = 0.015) and higher in Group P + T compared to Group T (P = 0.021) but no significant difference was found between Group P and others (P > 0.05). Bax staining was significantly higher in Group C compared to others (P < 0.05) but no significant difference was found between FA groups (P > 0.05). Conclusion. Prophylactic FA treatment can prevent tumor formation by inducing variations in the expression of p53, BcL-2, and Bax proteins in mammary glands of SCID mice before tumor formation. This suggests that FA may be a powerful inhibitory candidate for the prevention of tumorigenesis in breast cancer.