3rd Eurasia Biochemical Approaches & Technologies (EBAT), Antalya, Türkiye, 4 - 07 Kasım 2021, ss.51
Breast cancer is one of the most common cancer types among women all over the world and it is one
of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality.
1 Due to the limited and high cost of breast cancer
treatments, it is important to identify new target molecules and therapeutic agents. Lichen acids
have an extremely important feature in preventing the formation or development of carcinogenesis
due to their cytotoxic, pro-apoptotic, anti-oxidant, anti-proliferative, anti-migratory, anti-invasive
properties.
2,3 The fact that more than 1000 lichen acids are known so far constitutes a unique
resource for anticancer studies.
4 The anticancer effect of diffractaic acid, one of the lichen acids, on
human breast cancer has not been fully investigated.
In this study, the effects of diffractaic acid on cell viability, apoptosis, and migration in MCF-7 cell line
were investigated by using cell proliferation (XTT) assay, quantification of BAX, BCL2, and P53 gene
expressions by Real-Time PCR (qPCR), and wound healing test, respectively. According to our XTT
assay results, the best IC50 value for diffractaic acid on MCF-7 cells was determined as 51.32±2.24
μg/mL at 52 hours. qPCR results indicated that diffractaic acid induced apoptosis in MCF-7 cells
through increasing apoptotic pathway genes expression, including BAX/BCL2 ratio (p<0,05) and P53
(p<0,01). Wound healing assay results demonstrated that diffractaic acid decreased the migration of
MCF-7 cells considerably at 6 (p<0,001), 12 (p<0,01), and 24 (p<0,05) hours.
In conclusion, diffractaic acid can be nominated as a potential therapeutic agent against MCF-7 cells.
However, studies of the anticancer mechanism of diffractaic acid at the molecular level are still
ongoing.