Effect of Pistacia Terebinthus (terebinth) resin extract on aggressive breast cancer cells

Breast cancer is one of the most common types of cancer causing high mortality rates among women worldwide. This study was aimed to evaluate the effect of Pistacia terebinthus (terebinth) resin extract (TRE) on the MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell line. In the study, the cytotoxic dose of the resin extract in MDA-MB-231 cells was evaluated by MTS analysis. The effect of TRE on apoptosis was examined by Hoechst staining. Caspase-3 and cleaved caspase-3 protein expressions were determined by western blot analysis. Based on the outcomes of our MTS analysis, the IC50 dose of TRE was calculated at 56.54 μg/mL during a 24-h application period. With Hoechst staining analysis, an increase was observed in cells that underwent apoptotic change at 10 and 100 μg/ml TRE concentrations compared to the control. At 25 and 50 μg/mL TRE concentrations, no apoptotic change was found in comparison to the control; however, a significant drop in the number of viable cells was observed because 200, 300, and 500 μg/mL TRE concentrations were above the toxic dose. The caspase-3 protein expression level was significantly higher in cells treated with 100 μg/ml TRE compared to the control group, while there was no significant change in cleaved caspase-3 protein expression. It was thought that P. terebinthus resin might cause cell death in MDA-MB-231 cells via caspase-independent apoptosis pathway or other cell death pathways, and it was concluded that it could be a supportive treatment for breast cancer treatment.