Dose-Dependent Cytotoxicity of the Origanum vulgare and Carvacrol on Triple Negative Breast Cancer Cell Line

Uncontrolled proliferation and death resistance are two hallmarks of cancer cells. Breast cancer (BC) has the highest incidence and mortality in women worldwide and national; subtype triple negative (TN) is the most aggressive type because it is not susceptible to conventional therapy. Since 2004, the World Health Organization (WHO) approved use of alternative treatments as adjuvants based on evidence of its benefits. Since then, different natural alternatives to treat cancer have been studied, including Origanum vulgare (Ov) and carvacrol (Crv), one of its main compounds. However, cytotoxic potential of these products has not been studied in this subtype of BC. The objective of this study was to evaluate the cytotoxic effect of Ov and Crv on TN BC cell line (HCC-70). Lethal dose 50 was determined on control cell line HaCaT through 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assays with Ov and Crv stimulus in different doses and concentrations; the found dose was used on the HCC-70 cell line. The results were evaluated by ANOVA, finding that Ov reduced the proliferation by 94.05% ± 0.11 (p < 0.001) and Crv by 93.43% ± 0.21 (p < 0.001) compared to untreated cells. This suggests that both Ov and Crv present a powerful cytotoxic effect against the HCC-70 cell line and are promising options that should receive further study.