Anticancer efficacy of nerolidol, cyclophosphamide, and their combination against breast cancer cell line MCF-7

In cancer, chemotherapeutic agents like cyclophosphamide (CP), is the most frequently used drug but the side effects caused by it, limits it's application. Therefore, creation of anticancer medicines with high efficacy and no or minimum side effects is a priority. In recent times, research on natural bioactive has been increased since they are efficient, safe, and economical. We earlier proved that Nerolidol (NER), a naturally derived sesquiterpene alcohol is a natural bioactive compound that could significantly reduce the CP-induced organ toxicities in Swiss albino mice. Thus, in this study, we intended to evaluate the anti-cancer property of NER alone and its potentiating effect in combination with CP in Michigan Cancer Foundation-7 (MCF-7) breast cancer cell line. MCF-7 is one of the most extensively used human breast cancer cell line, primarily because it closely resembles estrogen receptor-positive (ER⁺), luminal-type breast cancer, which accounts for a significant proportion (~ 70%) of clinical breast cancer cases. MCF-7 cells are also non-invasive and less aggressive, which makes them suitable for early-stage tumor modelling and cytotoxicity screening. It provides a well-characterized and clinically relevant model for evaluating the efficacy of anticancer agents. MTT assay, clonogenic assay, cytotoxicity, wound healing assay, and cell cycle arrest was assessed to determine the anticancer properties of NER, CP, and their combination against MCF-7 cells. The change in nuclear morphology was determined by 4', 6-diamidino-2- phenylindole (DAPI) to assess apoptosis. The NER, CP, and their combination at IC₅₀ concentration was found to be cytotoxic against MCF-7 cells, inhibited colony formation, migration of MCF-7 cells and arrested the cell cycle at G0/G1, G2/M, and S phase, respectively. Thus, NER, CP, and their combination showed anticancer property against MCF-7 cells, when administered alone or in combination, but the combination treatment proved to be the best.