Cell cytotoxicity and pro-apoptosis on MCF-7 cells using polyherbal formulation, MAT20

Today, standard of care cancer treatment includes chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery, which have serious side effects. A different option for medication could be using standard of care treatments in conjunction with herbal adjuvants. This integrated approach reduces the dosage, and the side effects of chemotherapy could lead to a better prognosis. The purpose of this study was to test the anti-cancer properties and pro-apoptotic effects of the polyherbal formulation MAT20 as a complementary treatment. Moringa oleifera (Moringa), Phyllanthus emblica (Amla) and Ocimum sanctum (Tulsi), these 3 herbs were used to formulate MAT20, which contain phytochemicals that are known to display anti-cancer properties. In this study, we hypothesized that MCF-7 breast cancer cells treated with MAT20 would show increased cytotoxicity compared to its individual plant extracts. MAT20 showed significantly lower IC50 values were found for both 24-hour (33.01µg/mL) and 48-hour (21.09 µg/mL) exposure compared to any of the other individual extracts for the given exposure duration. MAT20 did not show a significantly lower IC50 value compared to the chemotherapeutic drug Paclitaxel. Additionally, staining methods (DAPI, Hoechst, Dual staining) showed that MAT20 treated cells caused 49.6% cell death after 24 hours and 51% cell death after 48 hours of exposure, indicating successful drug activity in inducing apoptosis.