Anticancer Effect of Heracleum persicum Alcoholic Extract and Leishmania Major Promastigute in Comparison with Doxorubicin in MCF7 Breast Cancer Cell Line and Natural HU02 Fibroblast

Introduction: Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women. Doxorubicin is one of the most important chemotherapy drugs in the treatment of tumors with many side effects. Today, herbal compounds make up about one-third of the total available drugs. Heracleum persicum has anti-cancer effects. Moreover, in recent years, there has been an interest in the study of new drug targets, such as the use of parasitic compounds in cancer treatment. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the anticancer effects of Heracleum persicum alcoholic extract and Leishmania major promastigute in comparison with doxorubicin in MCF7 breast cancer cell line and HU02 fibroblast. Materials & Methods: Breast and fibroblast cell lines were exposed to logarithmic concentrations of doxorubicin, Heracleum persicum extract, and Leishmania promastigute separately and in combination. The MTT was used to determine the inhibitory concentration of this herb extract, medicine, and the parasite. The data were analyzed in SPSS software. Ethics code: IR.SKUMS.0063-99 Findings: The results showed that an increase in the concentration of doxorubicin, Heracleum persicum extract, and Leishmania promastigute individually and in combination led to a decrease in the percentage of live fibroblast cells and MCF7. The highest percentage of the decreased live cells is observed in the combined application of Heracleum persicum extract, Leishmania promastigute, and doxorubicin. Discussion & Conclusions: Heracleum persicum extract and Leishmania promastigute can have significant inhibitory effects on the percentage of live fibroblast cells and MCF7, which is more pronounced in living cells of MCF7.