Virgin olive oil minor components as natural drugs for the treatment of breast cancer: preliminary experiments on squalene

Abstract

There is a need for the development of novel agents, which maintain the fundamental characteristics of cytoprotective drugs together with a low toxicity profile. The present study was designed to investigate the potential interest of squalene in the combinatory therapy of breast cancer with adriamycin in the breast cancer cell line MCF7. Results showed a dosage-response decrease of adriamycin on cell viability, and for all adriamycin dosages, squalene decreased or did not change viability. Squalene reduced or did not affect adriamycin apoptosis, and finally no effect of squalene was found on G0–G1 phase of the cell cycle. These results, together with previous studies, suggest that as for other natural compounds, potential anticancer effects of squalene could depend on the phenotype. Thus, there is still a need for further investigations aimed at ascertaining the real potential of squalene, using in vitro, but more importantly in vivo models.