Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies
www.pharmpress.com/fact
Focus Alternat Complement Ther©2005 Pharmaceutical Press
Focus Altern Complement Ther 1998; 3: 192–3
Allium vegetables, particularly garlic has had an important dietary and medicinal roles for centuries and there is evidence for its anticarcinogenic actions. As a part of our study of the role of Allium vegetable intake on cancer prevention, we investigated the effect of garlic extract on breast cancer cells.
An aqueous extract of garlic bulbs (A.sativum-Oswego white) standardized for its thiosulphinate concentration was used for the experiments. Estrogen receptor expressing breast cancer cell lines MCF-7, T47D, and PM1 and normal human fibroblasts were studied. Cytotoxicity was measured by protein synthesis inhibition and induction of apoptosis was quantitated by flowcytometry.
Most notable observation was that garlic extract induced almost complete apoptosis at 24hours exposure with a concentration of 80 µg/ml, in all the breast cancer cell lines studied. The comparable time for doxorubicin to induce apoptosis is around 48–72 hrs. Prostate and colon cancer cell lines and normal human fibroblasts, under the same conditions showed very little apoptosis. Thus there seems to be some selectivity for breast cancer cell lines. Cytotoxicity (ID50) on T47D breast cancer cell line after 24 hours. exposure was found to be 10 µg/ml.
Garlic extract induced apoptosis on estrogen receptor expressing breast cancer cell lines selectively, at a rate significantly faster than that of commonly used chemotherapeutic adriamycin.
