Antiproliferative Activity of Dioecious Maclura pomifera Plant Extracts on ER-positive Breast Cancer Cell Lines

M.pomifera is a dioecious tree native to the south-central USA,reported to have anti-inflammatory, antinociceptive, andantiproliferative properties. Native Americans have used plantparts for cancer treatment but few cancer research studies havefocused on M. pomifera, limiting our understanding of its medicinal properties. The goal of this research is to determineantiproliferative activities of M. pomifera plant extracts in ER-positive breast cancer MCF-7 and T47D cell lines. Capsaicin-likephytochemicals are known ligands for TRPV1 plasma membranechannels and were extracted from M. pomifera using organicreagents. Antiproliferative activities were evaluated using MTSassays, revealing that M. pomifera plant extracts significantlyreduced cancer cell growth, indicating antiproliferative properties.Future work will focus on elucidating the mechanism of action of M. pomifera in cancer cell lines via the TRPV1 channel and could leadto the discovery of natural products for the development of newanti-cancer drugs.