D-Pinitol Promotes Apoptosis in MCF-7 Cells via Induction of p53 and Bax and Inhibition of Bcl-2 and NF-κB

Development of drugs from natural products has been undergoing a gradual evoluation. Many plant derivedcompounds have excellent therapeutic potential against various human ailments. They are important sourcesespecially for anticancer agents. A number of promising new agents are in clinical development based on theirselective molecular targets in the field of oncology. D-pinitol is a naturally occurring compound derived from soywhich has significant pharmacological activitites. Therefore we selected D-pinitol in order to evaluate apoptoticpotential in the MCF-7 cell line. Human breast cancer cells were treated with different concentrations of D-pinitoland cytotoxicity was measured by MTT and LDH assays. The mechanism of apoptosis was studied with referenceto expression of p53, Bcl-2, Bax and NF-kB proteins. The results revealed that D-pinitol significantly inhibitedthe proliferation of MCF-7 cells in a concentration-dependent manner, while upregulating the expression ofp53, Bax and down regulating Bcl-2 and NF-kB. Thus the results obtained in this study clearly vindicated thatD-pinitol induces apotosis in MCF-7 cells through regulation of proteins of pro- and anti-apoptotic cascades.