Objective: Breast cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers among women, which has widespread in recent years in Iran. Wild Pistachio (Pistacia Atlantica), known as Baneh in Iran, is a medicinal plant. The present study aimed to test the anti-tumor properties of the hydro-alcoholic extract of Baneh leaves in MCF-7 breast cancerous cells.

Materials and Methods: The MTT assay, morphologic analysis, and DNA fragmentation assay were conducted to evaluate the inhibitory effects of the Baneh leaves hydro-alcoholic extract on the proliferation of cancerous cells (MCF-7) and normal ones (L929). The mRNA expression levels of some apoptotic genes, including p53, caspase-8, caspase-3, bax, and bcl-2 were measured by real-time PCR.

Results: Data analysis demonstrated that the IC50 value for MCF-7 and L929 cells after 48-hours treatment with extract was 250 g/mL and 400 g/mL, respectively. The morphologic analysis and DNA fragmentation assay confirmed the occurrence of apoptosis in both L929 and MCF-7 cells after treatment with the Baneh extract at IC50 concentration. It gives the idea that up-regulation of caspase-8, caspase-3, p53, and bax genes decrease in the expression of bcl-2 gene, showing that the Baneh extract induces apoptosis through both intrinsic and extrinsic pathways of programmed cell death in MCF-7 cells.

Conclusions: Breast cancer cells are more sensitive to the treatment with the Baneh extract compared to normal cells, making this extract a promising candidate to be used in the preparation of anti-cancer drugs against breast cancer cells with fewer side effects on healthy cells.