The effects of Silibinin on nitrosative stress and matrix metalloproteinase -9 expression in Balb/c mice with breast cancer tumor

Background: Among the factors associated with cancer are the nitrosative stress and increased expression of some Matrix Metalloproteinase (MMP). Silibinin has an anti-tumor effect, therefore, the present study evaluates the effects of slibinin on nitrosative stress indices and Matrix Metalloproteinase -9 (MMP-9) expression in the animal models of breast cancer.

Methods: In this study, 48 Balb/c mice were divided into 6 groups (each group contains 8 mouse): healthy ( control and cancer ) and treatment groups: treatment groups included cancerous mice which receiving 20 mg, 40 mg and 80 mg of silibinin for 3 weeks. In order to induce cancer, 4T1 cell line was used. After enrolling serum and breast tumor samples, NO level and MMP-9 expression in breast tumor biopsy were evaluated. Data were analyzed using one-way ANOVA, Kruskal-Wallis and T-test (p <0.05).

Results: The results revealed that the use 80 mg of silibinin resulted in significantly decreased in NO level in cancerous mice(170.88±15.42μM/ml) compared with untreated cancerous mice(190.38±21.19 μM/ml) (p=0.05). Furthermore, the use of three dose of silibinin led to a non-significant reduction of MMP-9 in the treatment group compared to untreated cancerous mice.

Conclusion: Silibinin treatment has been shown to improve nitrosative stress in breast cancer mice.