Publication:

In vitro evaluation of combination effects of doxorubicin with methylxanthine fractions isolated from Bancha and Pu-erh teas against breast cancer cells

Background In the present study we investigated the combination effects of anthracycline antibiotic, doxorubicin, with methylxanthine fractions isolated from Bancha and Pu-erh tea leaves, against MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell lines.

Methods Neutral red uptake assay was used for assessment of cytotoxicity effects and fractional effect analysis and combination index for evaluation of the combination effects.

Results Doxorubicin was used in varying concentrations by a double dilution method, whereas the methylxanthine fractions were in fixed concentrations – 100, 200, 400 or 600 μg/ml. Results have shown that methylxanthine fraction isolated from Bancha has synergic effects with doxorubicin, while methylxanthines from Pu-erh displayed antagonistic effects.

Conclusions Тhe obtained results lead us to suspect, that even minor differences in the composition of natural products can lead to significant differences in the biological activity of the product.