Potential Anti-Cancer Effects of Extra Virgin Olive Oil and Its Phenolic Extracts on Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells

Abstract

In this study, three types of Extra Virgin olive oils (EVOO) grown in different regions of Türkiye (Kilis Yaglik, Ayvalik, Izmir Sofralik) and their phenolic extracts (EVOOP) were evaluated for their anti-cancer activity in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells (Hep40) and a complete profiling of the fatty acid, sterol and polyphenol content of these olive oils was performed by HPLC and GC method. It was shown that genetic diversity and differences in growing conditions of the olive oils studied significantly modified the phenolic composition. The biophenol content was found as 655.4 mg/kg, 508.75 mg/kg and 197.86 mg/kg in Kilis Yaglik, Izmir Sofralik and Ayvalık respectively. The highest content of oleocanthal was found in İzmir Sofralik EVOO (142.00 mg/kg) and its anti-proliferative effect was found to be high. The highest amount of hydroxytyrosol was found in Kilis Yaglik (42.14 mg/kg) and the highest amount of tyrosol was found in Izmir Sofralik (43.86 mg/kg). It was shown that there was a significant difference in the responses of polyphenols in Hep40 cells. The direct use of olive oil in Hep40 cells and the comparison with EVOOPs were evaluated for the first time in this study. The evaluation of the anti-cancer effect of EVOOs and EVOOPs was tested by MTT and the IC50 value of Ayvalik EVOO was found to be the lowest at %12.84. In EVOOPs, Izmir Sofralik was the most effective in Hep40 cells with an IC50 value of 35.40 µg/mL.