Anti-proliferative, anti-inflammatory and anti-mutagenic activities of a Prunus mahaleb L. anthocyanin-rich fruit extract.

Prunus mahaleb L. is a marginal fruit crop producing cherry-like dark purple drupes with a very bitter taste, rich in polyphenolic compounds.A mahaleb fruit concentrated extract (mfce) has been assayed for its biological activities. In this work, we report results on the in vitro effects of mfce including: i) anti-proliferative, gap junction intercellular communication (GJIC) modulation and pro-apoptotic properties in a breast cancer cell line (MCF-7), ii) antiinflammatory properties in human vascular endothelial cells (HUVEC), iii) anti-mutagenic effect on yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain D7. Mfce exerted a dose-dependent antiproliferative effect on MCF-7 cells together with a significant time-dependent increase in GJIC and a pro-apoptotic effect. Furthermore, mfce significantly reduced levels of endothelial inflammatory antigens in a concentration-dependent manner. Finally, mfce protected S. cerevisiae cells against H2O2 cytotoxicity by direct radical scavenging activity. This study demonstrated multiple healthful biological effects of mfce, highlighting it as a potential nutraceutical product.