1. Department of Microbiology, Karaj Branch, Islamic Azad University, Karaj, Iran 2. Department of Basic Sciences, University of Welfare and Rehabilitation Sciences, Tehran, Iran 4. Neuroscience Research Center (NRC), Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Ira
Abstract
Introduction
Botulinum toxin (botox) is the most potent biological toxin known to against human life. it can be used as a selective agent to destroy a specific cell population in combination with a variety of artificial elements. previous studies have shown that botox has cytotoxic effects on cancer cells, hence it can be handled as cancer treatment agent. the aim of this study was to investigate the cytotoxic effect of botox on anti-proliferative and cell cycle arrest of two cancer cell lines: mcf-7 and pc-3 cell lines.
Methods
After 3 subculture, anti-proliferative effect of botox at the concentrations of 1.75, 2.25, 2.40, and 2.50 units at 24 and 48 hours were evaluated using mtt assay for investigating the cell viability also annexin v & pi and sub g1 assays for apoptosis, respectively.
Results
The results showed that botox in a dose-dependent manner, inhibited cell proliferation and apoptosis in mcf-7 cells significantly after 24h, in 2.40 and 2.50u (p<0.001). while the significant cytotoxicity were not observed for pc-3 cells in such doses. also, botox treatment were not significant in cell death after 48h in both of cell lines. the results of the annexin evaluation showed that the 2.50u of botox leads to induction of apoptosis in mcf-7cells at 24 h. pi assay confirmed the obtained results from annexin assay.
Conclusion
This research showed that botox has therapeutic potential for treatment of mcf-7 cells, but is not effective for pc-3 cells.
Keywords
Toxicity- apoptosis – botox – mcf-7cell line – pc-3 cell line
