The Anti-Cancer Effect of Watercress (Rorripa Nasturtium Aquaticum) Extract on Breast Cancer Cells

Background Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death in women. The natural chemopreventive agent phenyl ethyl isothiocyanate (PEI) has been shown to inhibit cell growth in cancer cells. This natural antioxidant compound is derived primarily from watercress (Rorripa Nasturtium Aquaticum). Objectives The objective of this original paper is to study the inhibitory effects of different concentrations of watercress hydroalcoholic extract on growth inhibition of breast cancer and normal cells. Methods In this experimental study, Watercress (Rorripa Nasturtium Aquaticum) plant were collected from Nour, Mazandaran, Iran and dried. Then the hydroalcoholic extract were obtained from dried specimen. MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells have been treated with different concentrations of watercress extract (0 - 2 mg/mL) and after 24, 48, and 72 hours of incubation, cell viability test was performed through MTT Assay to investigate the inhibitory effect of watercress extract on cancer cells. The same test has been performed on Fibroblasts cells (HF2FF cell line) to investigate the effect of this extract on normal cells. Statistical analysis was performed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA method) followed by post hoc Tukey’s multiple comparisons test in SPSS 16 software. Results The mean values of MDA-MB-231 cells viability treated with different concentrations of watercress extract have meaningful differences and the mean value of cell viability has been decreased meaningfully (P < 0.05) when the extract concentration is increased. The same analysis on Fibroblast cells represented that the mean values of cell viability in different groups don’t have a meaningful difference (P < 0.05). Conclusions It is concluded that watercress (Rorripa Nasturtium Aquaticum) suppressed development of human MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells in a concentration dependent manner and it had not any meaningful impact on normal cells.