Abstract B70: Berberine, a putative bioactive compound from traditional herbal plant, induces apoptosis in MCF‐7 breast cancer cells through p53 activation and mitochondrion‐dependent pathway

Plant bioactive compounds found in many plant species have been used in Chinese, Unani, and Indian ayurvedic medicine. Accumulative evidences in both in vitro and in vivo studies using berberine seem to play anti‐cancer and anti‐inflammatory roles in different cancer cells. Previous research suggested berberine to exhibit potential anticancer activities in the various cancer cell lines. In the present study, we have isolated a putative compound from Phellodendron amurense using methanol and purified by chromatographic techniques. The structure of the isolated compound was identified as berberine by 2D NMR and mass spectral data. The isolated berberine was tested against MCF‐7 breast cancer cell line and the MCF‐12f normal breast epithelial cell line for 24, 48 and 72h at various concentrations (0, 12.5, 25, 50, 100, and 200µM). Using the MTT cell viability assay, berberine has demonstrated a significant cytotoxic effect on the MCF‐7 cell line ( p Citation Information: Cancer Prev Res 2010;3(1 Suppl):B70.