Evaluation of the Cytotoxicity effects of ethanolic extract of Ferula assafoetida resin on oral Squamous Cells Carcinoma (KB) compared with L929 cells

One of the most common forms of malignancy is oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Despite advances in cancer treatment, the mortality rate of OSCC has remained almost unchanged for the past decades. Improving treatment requires the search for new classes of safer and more effective anticancer agents. Oleo-gum-resin obtained from Ferula assafoetida has significant anticancer properties against various cancer cells. The current study aims to evaluate the cytotoxic effects of the oleo-gum-resin extract on oral squamous cell carcinoma (KB) compared with normal mouse fibroblast cells (L929). The KB (cancer group) and L929 (control group) cells were cultured in an enriched RPMI-1640 medium. Then the cells were treated with 5 - 160 μg/ml concentrations of oleo-gum-resin extract for 24, 48, and 72 hours. The cell viability rate was determined by MTT assay. The statistical data analysis was done using SPSS software and the one-way ANOVA technique. Tukey’s comparison procedure was used to compare individual means. A t-test was used to compare the identical concentrations between two cell lines. In this study, IC50 was 37.36 and 89.81 µg/ml for KB and L929 cells, respectively. The IC50 ratio for normal (L929)-to-tumoral (KB) cells was 89.81: 37.36 = 2.40, indicating that a 2.5-fold higher effect of asafoetida extract on normal mouse fibroblast cells (L929) compared tumoral cells (KB). According to the results, the ethanolic asafoetida extract exhibited more cytotoxic effects on KB than on L929 cells. This study demonstrated that the asafoetida extract exerted more cytotoxic effects on oral squamous cell carcinoma than normal cells.