Abstract
Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a disease that impacts millions of people around the world. There is an urgent need to find new therapies, specific to triple negative cancer cells with minimal effect on normal cells. This study explores the use of Myrothamnus flabellifolius as an anti-TNBC. Using High Performance Liquid Chromatography, the extract was fractionated and each fraction was tested against TNBC cells BT-549 and MDA-MB-231, and a non-malignant breast cell line MCF-10A. The results showed that fraction 7 inhibited the growth of TNBC cells starting at a dry weight concentration of 31.125 μg/mL while there was no significant cell death of the MCF-10A cell line. Using analytical techniques such as Mass Spectrometry (MS-MS) and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR), the major compound in fraction 7 was determined to be a derivative of galloyl glucose hexahydroxydiphenic acid. The results suggest that this novel compound is the primary anti-TNBC compound in M. flabellifolius and might be a potential candidate for targeted TNBC therapy.
Key words: Triple negative breast cancer, Myrothamnus flabellifolius, natural products, galloyl glucose hexahydroxydiphenic acid derivative.