Cytotoxicity and Apoptosis Inducing Effects of Some Lathyrane and Tigliane Diterpenes against Breast Cancer Cell Lines

Natural compounds and especially herbal medicine are of great interest due to their various biological effects and their potential to act as a drug for the treatment of various neoplasms especially breast cancer that we are facing with its increasing prevalence around the world. The aim of this study was to evaluate the cytotoxic and cell death mechanism of some diterpenoids (Lathyrane or Tigliane) extracted from the Euphorbia sogdiana Popov against two breast cancer cell lines, MCF-7 and 4T1. Determination the cytotoxic effects of four various diterpenoids was performed using MTT assay against MCF-7, 4T1, and HUVEC cell lines. The IC50 of each compound against cell lines was determined by drawing the dose-response graph using graph Pad prism software. Finally, the apoptotic effects of compound with the most cytotoxic effects was determined by flow cytometry assay for 24 hrs of incubation in IC50 concentration. Statistical analysis confirmed compound (3) with the most cytotoxicity against both cancer cell lines. The IC50 of compound (3) was determined as 10.1 ± 5, 28 ± 5, and 50 ± 3 µg/ml, for MCF-7, 4T1, and HUVEC cells, respectively. Furthermore, the cells treated with 5 and 10 μg/ml of compound (3) for 24 hrs, showed 49 and 57% of apoptosis. These surveyed compounds have the potential to be considered as useful anti-breast cancer agents due to the great cytotoxicity and apoptotic effects against related cancer cell lines and safety profile according to their rational selectivity index.