Ferutinin: A phytoestrogen from ferula and its anticancer, antioxidant, and toxicity properties

Abstract This study was performed to evaluate the antioxidant, anticancer, and toxicity properties of ferutinin, a phytoestrogen derived from Ferula species. The human Michigan Cancer Foundation‐7 (MCF‐7) breast cancer cell line and normal human fibroblast (HDF) were cultured and treated with different ferutinin concentrations. The cell viability was evaluated by 3‐(4,5‐dimethylthiazol‐2‐yl)‐2,5‐diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay and cell death‐defining tests (a comparative real‐time polymerase chain reaction [for Bax and Bcl‐2 genes], flow cytometry, and acridine orange/propidium iodide cell staining). Moreover, 15 white male balb/c mice were divided into three groups of five (one untreated control group and two groups), which received different doses of ferutinin‐supplemented water (500 and 1000 µg/kg mice weight) to check the mice liver and kidney pathomorphological alterations and to determine the antioxidant enzymes' expression profile (superoxide dismutase [SOD], catalase [CAT], and glutathione peroxidase) in the mentioned tissues. Finally, the liver lipid peroxidation of mice was analyzed. The results of MTT and cell death‐defining tests indicate the significant reduction in cell viability and induction of apoptotic death in MCF‐7 cells (enhanced sub‐G1 peaks, Bax overexpression, Bcl‐2 downregulation, and increased apoptotic cells). The antioxidant enzymes (SOD and CAT) in the mice liver and kidney cells were found to be upregulated ( p < .05) in response to the increasing doses of ferutinin. Besides, the lipid peroxidation of the liver tissue of mice was significantly reduced. According to the results, we suggest that ferutinin has the potential to be served as a selective anticancer compound for breast cancer treatment.