Antiproliferative and proapoptotic activities of ferulic acid in breast and liver cancer cell lines

Purpose: To explore the potential anticancer activities of ferulic acid (4-hydroxy-3-methoxycinnamic acid, FA) on two different human cancers cell lines, viz, breast (MCF-7) and hepatocellular (HepG2). Methods: MTT (3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide) cytotoxicity, Annexin V staining, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), as well as caspase-8 and -9 activation assays were used to evaluate the proapoptotic and antiproliferative potentials of ferulic acid (FA) on MCF-7 and HepG2 cell lines. Results: Ferulic acid exerted cytotoxic effects on MCF-7 and HepG2 cell lines with half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) of 75.4 and 81.38 μg/mL, respectively, at 48 h. Annexin V staining revealed evidence of apoptosis. Caspase-8 and-9 levels were elevated in both cell lines after incubation with ferulic acid. Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that ferulic acid has promising therapeutic potentials for the treatment of breast and liver cancers by inducing apoptosis via activation of caspase-8 and -9 pathways.