Evaluation of Antitumoral and Apoptotic Potentials of Masticadienonic Acid and Tirucallol from Pistacia vera L. Stems

AbstractBreast cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer in women, therefore it has become necessary to find more effective and less toxic drugs in order to minimize the disadvantages of existing chemotherapeutic agents. The potential anticancer properties of masticadienonic acid, tirucallol and pistachionic acid, which are secondary metabolites isolated from Pistacia vera, has not been reported to date against breast cancer cells. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to assess the antitumor effect of these metabolites and investigate their potential as an anticancer agents. The cytotoxic activity of the secondary metabolites were evaluated by MTT analysis method, and the apoptotic activity in cells were evaluated by DNA fragmentation and caspase-3 enzyme expression by immunocytochemical analysis. Our results showed that masticadienonic acid and tricallol strongly reduced cell profileration of cancer cell lines. We found that these compounds induced apoptotic processes by enhancing caspase-3 expression and DNA fragmentation. These results suggest that it would be desirable to further investigate these compounds for their anti-breast cancer potential.Keywords: PistachioMasticadienonic acidTirucallolApoptosisAnti-breast cancer activityCytotoxicityDisclaimerAs a service to authors and researchers we are providing this version of an accepted manuscript (AM). Copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proofs will be undertaken on this manuscript before final publication of the Version of Record (VoR). During production and pre-press, errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal relate to these versions also.