en زیست شناسی ملکولی Molecular Biology مقالات اصلی Original Article <div style="text-align: justify;"><strong><em>Background:</em></strong> Breast cancer is the most prevalent cancer in women worldwide, especially in developing countries. <em>Scrophularia umbrosa</em> Dumort, a medicinal plant, has been used to treat various diseases in traditional medicine. In this study, we investigated the anti-cancer and cytotoxic effects of <em>S. umbrosa</em> Dumort extracts on a human breast cancer cell line.<br> <br> <strong><em>Methods:</em></strong> The methanol and other <em>S. umbrosa</em> Dumort factions, including those from dichloromethane, water, n-butanol, ethyl acetate, and petroleum ether, were examined. The cytotoxic effects of the fractions on MCF-7 human breast cancer adenocarcinoma and 3T3 mouse embryonic fibroblast cells were evaluated by MTT assays. In addition, apoptotic induction was determined by propidium iodide flow cytometry.<br> <br> <strong><em>Results:</em></strong> The water, n-butanol. petroleum ether, and ethyl acetate fractions had no cytotoxic effects. The methanol and dichloromethane fractions showed significant cytotoxic affects in a dose-dependent manner on the malignant cells while causing no damage to non-malignant cells. In addition, the cell death assay indicated that the <em>S. umbrosa</em> dichloromethane fraction triggered apoptosis in the MCF-7 cells.<br> <br> <strong><em>Conclusions:</em></strong> <em>S. umbrosa</em> induced apoptosis in MCF-7 cells. The <em>S. umbrosa</em> dichloromethane fraction exhibited the greatest cytotoxic effect on these cells. This work presents a first evaluation of the cytotoxic effects of <em>S. umbrosa</em> and further studies are needed to determine the cytotoxic mechanism.<br> &nbsp;</div> Apoptosis, Breast cancer, Cytotoxicity, MCF-7 cell line, Scrophularia umbrosa Dumort. 79 84 http://rbmb.net/browse.php?a_code=A-10-217-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Mustafa Mansouri Maansourim@gmail.com 100319475328460017182 100319475328460017182 No Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Sciences Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran -Iran (IAUPS). Seyed Adel Moallem Moallemsa@mums.ac.ir 100319475328460017183 100319475328460017183 No Department of Pharmacodynamics and Toxicology, School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. & Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ahl Al Bayt, Karbala, Iraq. Javad Asili asilij1@mums.ac.ir 100319475328460017184 100319475328460017184 No Department of Pharmacognosy, School of pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. Leila Etemad Etemadl@mums.ac.ir 100319475328460017185 100319475328460017185 Yes Pharmaceutical Research Center, Pharmaceutical Technology Institute, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.