Name: MARCELE LORENTZ MATTOS DE SOUZA
Type: MSc dissertation
Publication date: 29/09/2017
Advisor:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| LETICIA BATISTA AZEVEDO RANGEL | Advisor * |
Examining board:
| Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| CRISTINA MARTINS E SILVA | Internal Examiner * |
| LETICIA BATISTA AZEVEDO RANGEL | Advisor * |
Summary: Cancer is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Every year 8.2 million
people die from the disease. Among the most incident tumors in the population
are lung cancer and breast cancer. According to the World Health Organization
(WHO), the number of new cancers will continue to rise despite the huge
investment in fighting the disease. Added to that, the chemotherapeutic regimen of first choice for the treatment of these diseases has as limitation the high systemic toxicity and both the innate and acquired chemoresistance of the tumor cells. Therefore, various natural substances with potential antitumor activity have been studied, among which rosmarinic acid (RA). RA is a naturally occurring phenolic compound. It is an ester derived from the caffeic and 3,4-
dihydroxyphenylacetic acids found in various plant species, being originally
isolated in 1958 from the rosemary plant (Rosmarinus officinalis). RA modulates the immune system, has action antimicrobial, neuroprotective, inhibits cell proliferation and induces apoptosis (PETERSEN; SIMMONDS, 2003). Motivated by the diverse activities and benefits of RA, we performed a screening in a panel of lung lines (H460/ A549), ovarian (SKOV-3, A2780, OVCAR3) and breast (MCF-7/ MDAMB-231). The results verified the cytotoxic efficacy of RA in triple negative breast cancer MDAMB-231 and luminal A MCF-7 with a reduction of more than 80% in cellular viability in monotherapy and increased sensitivity to conventional chemotherapeutic with drastic reduction of IC50 in combination therapy with paclitaxel and cisplatin. The in vitro cytotoxicity data obtained so far suggest that RA may be a promising chemotherapeutic agent in the fight against cancer, especially, breast cancer.
Key words: lung cancer; ovarian cancer; breast cancer; rosmarinic acid;
cytotoxicity; chemoresistance; PI3K.
