Leila Jamalzadeh - PhD Student, Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Guilan University, Rasht, Iran
Reyhaneh Sariri - Full professor, Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Guilan University, Rasht, Iran
Hosein Ghafoori - Assistant professor, Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Guilan University, Rasht, Iran
Hale Hasani - MSc Student, Department of Biology, Faculty of Sciences, Guilan University, Rasht, Iran

Artesunate, a semi-synthetic derivative of artemisinin, isolated from the traditional Chinese herb Artemisia annua, is an effective novel antimalarial drug and more recently is used in medications that induce tumor cell apoptosis; however the mechanism of action is not clear yet. Thus, the aims of this study were to determine whether artesunate could induce the apoptosis of a human breast cancer cell line, MCF-7, and to clarify its related mechanism. For this purpose, MCF-7 cells were treated with artesunate and then cell viability was measured by MTT assay. Apoptosis detection with Annexin VFITC/ PI staining was followed by flow cytometry. Furthermore, Caspase-3, -8, and -9 colorimetric assay kits were employed to determine caspase protease activity. MTT assay results demonstrated that artesunate significantly inhibits the growth of MCF-7 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner. In addition, based on the findings of Annexin V-FITC/PI staining, the cytotoxicity of artesunate in MCF-7 cells occurs through apoptosis and by increasing the cellular levels of caspase-3, -8 and -9. Taken together, it could be concluded that artesunate effectively induces apoptosis in MCF-7 cells through caspase-dependent pathways, so may be a promising candidate for the treatment of breast cancer

Artesunate, MCF-7 Cells, Breast Cancer, Apoptosis, Caspase