Vagiheh Soltaninejad - Ph.D. student, Department of Pathobiology School of Veterinary Medicine, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
Nasrin Kazemipour - Associate Professor, Department of Basic Sciences, School of Veterinary Medicine, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran
Mohammad Mehdi Yaghoobi - Associate Professor, Department of Biotechnology, Institute of Science and High Technology and Environmental Sciences, Graduate University of Advanced Technology, Kerman, Iran
Abbas Pardakhty - Professor, Department of pharmaceutics, Faculty of pharmacy and pharmaceutical sciences, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran

Background: Cancer is one of the major health problems worldwide and natural resources are being explored to develop anticancer drugs with fewer side effects. Iranian propolis contains components including flavonoids and polyphenols and has various medicinal properties. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of Ethanolic Extract of Sirch Propolis (EESP) on three breast cancer cell lines. Methods: The MDA-MB-۲۳۱, SKBR-۳ and MCF-۷ cells were treated for ۲۴ and ۴۸ h at the presence of ۱% and ۱۰% fetal bovine serum (FBS) concentration. MTT, BrdU and flow cytometry assays were used for measuring cytotoxicity, cell proliferation and apoptosis. Results: The highest cytotoxicity was seen on MDA-MB-۲۳۱ cell at the presence of ۱% and ۱۰% FBS respectively following ۴۸ h treatment. BrdU assay showed that treatment with ۲۰۰ μg/ mL of EESP at the presence of ۱% FBS for ۴۸ h, reduced proliferation of MDA-MB-۲۳۱ cell to ۷۵% and that of MCF-۷ and SKBR-۳ cells to ۷۰% and ۶۰% respectively. Cell cycle analysis by flow cytometry showed that EESP at ۲۰۰ μg/mL for ۴۸h, induced G۰/G۱ phase arrest in MCF-۷ and SKBR-۳ cells and G۲/M, S phase arrest in MDA-MB-۲۳۱ cell. The cytotoxic effects of EESP were primarily found to be due to the induction of early stage apoptosis on SKBR-۳ cell and early and late stage apoptosis on MCF-۷ and MDA-MB-۲۳۱ cells. Conclusion:The results demonstrated that EESP is a natural anticancer mixture capable of reducing breast cancer cells proliferation and inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in them.

propolis, breast cancer, Cytotoxicity, Apoptosis, Cell cycle