THE ANTIPROLIFERATIVE ACTIVITY OF YERBA MATE EXTRACT IN PC3 AND MDA-MB-231 HUMAN CANCER CELLS

SANTIANO F; FERNANDEZ MA; ESPINO M; GINEVRO P; RABINO D ; SILVA MF; CARÓN RW; LÓPEZ FONTANA C

Congreso; XL Reunión científica Anual de la Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo.; 2022

Sociedad de Biología de Cuyo

Yerba mate (ilex paraguariensis-YM-) contains bioactive compounds that confer numerous benefits to human health and may delay tumor development. Traditionally, the extraction of plant metabolites is carried out with solvents that have negative effects on people health and the environment. The extraction of natural compounds by natural deep eutectic solvents (NADES) is an innovative, natural method, with high biodegradability, sustainability, the ability to solubilize and stabilize compounds of different polarity, and low or no toxicity. Therefore, the use of NADES becomes a priority to achieve safer extracts and enhance their bioactive properties. Our objective was to develop an extract rich in bioactive compounds with antitumor properties from YM using NADES and compare it with an aqueous extract. For this purpose, the extractive capacity of citric acid, glycerol, and water (CGH) NADES was tested and compared with aqueous extraction by HPLC-UV. In addition, we analyzed the direct effects of both extracts of YM on the proliferation and viability of human prostatic tumor epithelial cells (PC3) and human mammary tumor epithelial cells (MDA-MB-231). Both cell lines are not hormone-dependent and have high metastatic potential. The NADES had a greater performance in the extraction of theobromine, caffeine, rutin, chlorogenic, and caffeic acid, being chlorogenic acid and caffeine than the aqueous extract. When we compared the effect of the aqueous extract vs CGH extract on the PC3 cell line, we observed that both reduced cell proliferation from a concentration of 1.87 vs 0.39 mg/ml, and viability from 15 vs 3.12 mg/ml. In MDA-MB-231 cells, both extracts reduced proliferation and viability from low concentrations of 0.23 vs 0.19 mg/ml. We can conclude that YM can delay prostatic and mammary carcinogenesis by reducing the viability and proliferation of the studied cells. Also, higher concentrations of the aqueous extract are needed to obtain similar biological effects to the NADES extract. The identification of an extract of natural origin that potentiates the benefits of YM could be beneficial for the treatment and/or prevention of prostate and mammary tumor development.