Abstract

Prunus persica has been used as a source of traditional medicine in many countries for the treatment of different diseases in females. In the present study, cytotoxicity and reactive oxygen species scavenging effects of Prunus persica extract on human breast cancer and placenta choriocarcinoma cell lines were evaluated. Besides this, regulations of oestrogen synthesis and antiaromatase activity were observed on human placenta choriocarcinoma cells. Ethyl acetate and butanol fractions had the maximum cytotoxic activity among all the fractions. In comparison to butanol fraction, ethyl acetate fraction was found to scavenge maximum intracellular reactive oxygen species, which was correlated with its total phenolic and flavonoid contents. Ethyl acetate was found to reduce the aromatase activity by 50 % at the concentration of 200 µg/ml. This inhibitory effect on aromatase was accompanied by reduced 17β-estradiol levels in JEG-3 cells. It seemed that the ethyl acetate and n-butanol fractions of Prunus persica or its active compound appears to be acting through dual mechanisms, i.e. improvement of antioxidant system and by suppressing aromatase; it may potentially be used as therapeutic agent for the treatment of breast cancer. These findings suggested that Prunus persica extract could be an aromatase inhibitor for the treatment of oestrogen-sensitive breast cancer.