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

- Prunus mahaleb fruit concentrated extract (mfce) mediates health promoting effects.
- Mfce exhibits pro-apoptotic effect and modulates GJIC in MCF-7 cells.
- Mfce reduces vascular inflammation in human endothelial cells.
- Mfce shows anti-mutagenic effect on yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
- Mfce could be a new source of functional food ingredients.

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) anti-inflammatory properties in human vascular endothelial cells (HUVEC), iii) anti-mutagenic effect on yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae strain D7. Mfce exerted a dose-dependent anti-proliferative 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.