Morphometrics in Encephalartos

Abstract

⁎ SAAB student award: Best oral presentation by an MSc student under the age of 30Mortality rates in Africa are very high, with breast cancer being the second most common form of cancer in women. Dodonaea viscosa L. Jacq.is used for a vast range of diseases as a traditional medicine and has illustrated anti-cancerous properties in previous studies. In this study, a metabolomic and physiological approach was used to differentiate chemotypic differences among populations of D. viscosa, and elucidate bioactivity of plants. A non-invasive estrogen receptor positive human cancer cell line (MCF-7), a metastatic estrogen receptor negative human cancer cell line (MDA-MB-231) and a normal breast epithelial cell line (MCF-12A) were used together with an in vivo tumour-bearing mouse model to evaluate bioactivity. Liquid LC/MS-based metabolomic profiling was used to assess samples collected from different locations in the Western Cape. The MTT assay was used to assess cell viability after treatment in MCF-12A cells, MCF-7 cells and MDA-MB-231 cells. The efficacy of the plant extract was compared with a conventional chemotherapeutic agent, doxorubicin, using a tumour-bearing mouse model. There is evidently chemotypic variation in populations of D. viscosa, with the Stellenbosch population exhibiting the highest cytotoxic potential. Extracts illustrated bioactivity against the breast cancer cells, but had limited toxicity to normal breast epithelial cells. Apoptosis was evident by the apoptotic markers detected in Western blot analysis after treatment of the extract. Doxorubicin (Dox) and the extract exhibited equivalent reduction tumour size in the tumourbearing mice model. The vital potential of D. viscosa as adjuvant treatment for breast cancer has been demonstrated in this study.