Determination of antitumoral activities of metabolites purified from Pistacia vera L. fruit stem parts

Although current cancer treatment methodologies are effective on patients, the resistance mechanism that develops to anticancer agents causes serious treatment problems. In order to minimize the side effects of these agents, a new anticancer agent can be developed by utilizing the antitumoral activities of secondary metabolites produced by plants and readily available in nature. For this purpose, first of all masticadienonic acid, tirucallol and pistachionic acid metabolites were purified from the waste stem parts of Pistacia vera L. fruit and the chemical structures of the pure metabolites were elucidated by FT-IR, 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, 1D- and 2D-NMR methods. Then, the cytotoxic activity of the compounds was evaluated by MTT analysis method, and the apoptotic activity in cells was evaluated by DNA fragmentation and caspase-3 enzyme expression by immunocytochemical analysis. As a results, it was determined that the purified compounds had dose-dependent cytotoxic activity against MCF7 and HUVEC cells, caused DNA breaks and increased the expression of caspase 3 enzyme, and was an inducer of the apoptotic process. Our results showed that masticadienonic acid and tirucallol compounds can be potential anticancer agents with high potential. In further studies, the effects on different cell lines should be examined and our results should be supported under in vivo conditions.