Fatemeh Mashayekhi - Department of Cell & Molecular Biology, School of Biology, College of Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
Seyed Jalal Zargar

Fatemeh Mashayekhi, Seyed Jalal Zargar Department of Cell & Molecular Biology, School of Biology, College of Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran Introduction:Breast cancer is the leading worldwide cause of death among women between the ages of 40 and 55. Surprisingly, the incidence of male breast cancer is also increasing. Cucurbitacins are a class of highly oxidized tetracyclic triterpenoids. They are widely distributed in the plant kingdom. Recent studies have reported that cucurbitacin I (Cu I) potently inhibits cell growth in various human cancer cell lines. Method: We examined the cell viability by MTT assay. Briefly, cells were seeded in 96 well plates (~10000 cells in each well). After 48 h, drug concentrations (0.5, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 15 and 20μM) were added and incubated for 24 h. Thereafter, the cells were treated with 3-[4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2, 5- diphenyltratrazolium bromide (MTT). Three hours and thirty minutes later, all of the medium was aspirated from the wells. The remainingformazan crystals were dissolved in DMSO and the absorbance was measured .The cytotoxicity index was determined using the untreated cells as negative control.Results & Conclusion: We showed that LC50 of cucurbitacin I for MDA-MB 468 cell line is 6 μM. It means at this concentration, 50% of cells are died. We will examine theprobably side effects of Cu I. If it does not have any considered toxic side effect, it can be a suitable alternative for current chemotherapy drugs.

Breast Cancer, MDA-MB 468, MTT Assay, Cucurbitacin I