Cytotoxicity of Homeopathic Viscum album (200CH) in Breast Cancer Cells

Introduction: Studying adenocarcinoma cells and the new therapies for cancer is a promising area of interest. Adenocarcinoma of the breast can be of several types and MCF-7 cells are of interest because they maintain several characteristics similar to mammary epithelium, consolidated as an in vitro model to study breast cancer biology. As breast cancer is the commonest cause of cancer death in women worldwide, new possibilities of therapies should be studied, such as the homeopathic Viscum album (VA), a medicine originated from a plant whose extract has cytotoxic effects. In this study, MCF-7 cells were cultured in the presence of homeopathic VA 200CH and cell viability was evaluated by both MTT assay and cell counting.

Methods: The cell line MCF-7 was plated in two 96-well plates for 24 hours with culture medium at 37.5°C and 5% CO₂. After this period, this medium was replaced by medium containing VA 200CH in concentrations varying from 10 to 30 μL/mL (cell counting) and 10 to 100 μL/mL (MTT) and a control group. These plates were kept in culture for 48 hours. In one plate, the MTT assay was performed to evaluate the percentage of viable cells and in the other plate, cells were trypsinized and counted. Results were compared with the control group.

Results: Both MTT assay and cell counting showed that VA 200CH was capable of reducing cell viability with the increasing of its concentration and 39 μL/mL was responsible for the death of half the cells cultured. The counting procedure showed that 30 μL/mL was responsible for killing 75% of the cells.

Conclusion: This is a promising result that shows the action of VA 200CH in MCF-7 lineage of breast cancer cells and brings the possibility of using this medicine in the treatment of these tumors, alone or at least associated with other medicines.

Keywords: Cellular activity, adenocarcinoma, cytotoxicity, homeopathy

Publication History

Article published online:
30 January 2024