AN IN VITRO STUDY ON THE EFFECT OF PISTACIA ATLANTICA SUB KURDICA EXTRACT ON MICROTUBULE PROTEINS: A POTENTIAL ANTI-CANCER COMPOUND

Natural products derived from plants and herbs have always had an important role in drug development. Especially in case of cancer, there is a huge demand for effective chemopreventive and chemotherapeutic agents with natural base and low toxic effects on normal non-cancerous cells. In this work, we have studied the effects of Pistacia atlantica sub kurdica (Baneh) extract on microtubule proteins and their biochemical features. Since microtubules are directly involved in spindle formation and cell division, they can be a very good target for anticancer drugs. We hypothesized that Baneh extract has the potential to inhibit microtubule polymerization and dynamics and as a result inhibit spindle formation during cell division. In order to analyze the effect of Baneh extract on microtubule proteins we decided to investigate these proteins biochemical characteristics in the presence of different concentrations of the extract. We used cell culture model to confirm cytotoxicity of Baneh extract. We then did some polymerization kinetics and dynamics study on microtubule proteins in the presence of various concentrations of the extract. Finally, we investigated the effect of Baneh extract on secondary and tertiary structural changes in tubulin protein. Our results indicate that Baneh extract an inhibit microtubule polymerization and dynamics, and can cause changes in the structure of tubulin protein. We had previously reported anticancer effects of Baneh extract on several cancer cell lines. Here, our observations further support the potentials of this natural compound as a promising candidate in novel chemo preventive drug development.