Evaluation of estrogenic, antiestrogenic and genotoxic activity of nemorosone, the major compound found in brown Cuban propolis

BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Research Article

Osmany Cuesta-Rubio¹  José Manuel Molina-Molina²  Nicolás Olea²  Mariana F Fernández²  Wagner Vilegas³  Cassia RP Cardoso⁴  Aline M Prieto⁴  Mariana S Camargo⁴  Flavia A Resende⁴  Paula K Boldrin⁴  Eliana A Varanda⁴ 

[1] Instituto de Farmacia y Alimentos (IFAL), Universidad de La Habana, La Habana, Cuba;School of Pharmacy, University of Granada, Granada, Spain;UNESP- Univ. Estadual Paulista, Campus do Litoral Paulista, Unidade São Vicente, CEP 11330-900, São Vicente, São Paulo, Brazil;UNESP- Univ. Estadual Paulista, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciencies of Araraquara-Department of Biological Sciences, Rodovia Araraquara-Jaú, Km 1, 14801-902, Araraquara, São Paulo, Brazil;

关键词: Nemorosone;    Clusia rosea;    Propolis;    Estrogenicity;    Genotoxicity;   

DOI  :  10.1186/1472-6882-13-201

 received in 2013-05-07, accepted in 2013-07-25,  发布年份 2013

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundBrown propolis is the major type of propolis found in Cuba; its principal component is nemorosone, the major constituent of Clusia rosea floral resins. Nemorosone has received increasing attention due to its strong in vitro anti-cancer action. The citotoxicity of nemorosone in several human cancer cell lines has been reported and correlated to the direct action it has on the estrogen receptor (ER). Breast cancer can be treated with agents that target estrogen-mediated signaling, such as antiestrogens. Phytoestrogen can mimic or modulate the actions of endogenous estrogens and the treatment of breast cancer with phytoestrogens may be a valid strategy, since they have shown anti-cancer activity.MethodsThe aim of the present investigation was to assess the capacity of nemorosone to interact with ERs, by Recombinant Yeast Assay (RYA) and E-screen assays, and to determine by comet assay, if the compound causes DNA-damaging in tumoral and non-tumoral breast cells.ResultsNemorosone did not present estrogenic activity, however, it inhibited the 17-β-estradiol (E2) action when either of both methods was used, showing their antiestrogenicity. The DNA damage induced by the benzophenone in cancer and normal breast cells presented negative results.ConclusionThese findings suggest that nemorosone may have therapeutic application in the treatment of breast cancer.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
© Camargo et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 2013. This article is published under license to BioMed Central Ltd. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.