فهرست نشریات علمی دسترسی آزاد ایران

Introduction: The adverse effects of chemotherapy in treating breast cancer have prompted research into identifying and using herbal anticancer compounds with suitable carriers. Accordingly, in the current study, we intended to investigate the effects of niosome-formulated methanolic (Nio/ME) and ethanolic (Nio/EE) extracts of Citrus limon peel on SKBR-3 breast cancer cells.Materials and Methods: The SKBR-3 breast cancer cell line was subjected to niosomal formulation of ethanolic and methanolic extracts of lemon peel and doxorubicin. The effects on cytotoxicity, cell death, and migration via MTT, wound healing assay, and flow cytometry analysis were investigated.Results: MTT observations demonstrated that 200 µg/ml of extracts and 0.5 µM doxorubicin were appropriate for loading in the niosome and administered to the cells for 48 hours. In flow cytometry, the apoptosis rate significantly increased for ethanolic and methanolic extract formulations compared to pure extracts. However, encapsulated doxorubicin had a milder toxicity than doxorubicin alone (p≤0.05). Wound healing assay demonstrated significant anti-migratory effects of encapsulated extracts. The extracts had a significant synergistic cytotoxic effect with the drug.Conclusions: Lemon peel extract has anticancer properties similar to doxorubicin. Additionally, the niosomal formulation demonstrated the ability to load and release the extracts and drug efficiently to the breast cancer cell.