Faezeh Askariyan Marji - Department of Biology, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Science and Arts University, Yazd, Iran
Mojgan Noroozi
Mohammad Reza Miraee - Molecular Medicine Research Center, Research Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran
Ameneh Javid - Department of Biology, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Science and Arts University, Yazd, Iran

Backgrounds: Several drugs have been proposed for the treatment of breast cancer, but none hasfully treated the disease so far. Extensive effort is being made to find new high-potencymedications. In this study, we have evaluated the effect of aqueous-alcoholic extract of unripeCapparis fruit as an anticancer agent an MCF۷ cells line on the expression pattern of importantgenes of the self-renewal pathway (OCT۴, NANOG and SOX۲).Materials and Methods: The MCF۷ cells were cultured in RPMI۱۶۴۰ medium containedaqueous-alcoholic extract of unripe Capparis fruit (۱۲۵- ۵۰۰۰ μg/mL) for ۴۸ and ۷۲ h. The foldchanges of OCT۴, NANOG and SOX۲ were determined by real-time-PCR technique. Data wereanalyzed by one-way ANOVA.Results: The hydro-alcoholic extract of the unripe fruit of Capparis caused time- andconcentration-dependent cell death in MCF۷ cells. Real-time PCR results showed that inCapparis extract treated cells, the mean expression of OCT۴, NANOG and SOX۲ genes decreasedafter ۴۸ and ۷۲ hours of incubation with IC۵۰ concentration of Capparis extract as compared tothe control group.Conclusion: The results of this study suggest that Capparis plant species is able to alter theexpression of the desired genes. Therefore, based on the results of this study, it is possible thatthe fruit of this plant can be used as a potential candidate for the treatment of human breastcancer after clinical trial studies.

Breast cancer, Capparis plant, MCF-۷ cells, Medical herbs