Studies by our group and other researchers suggest that cranberry polyphenolics inhibit breast cancer, but little is known about the mechanisms involved. The goals of this study are to determine whether cranberry extracts inhibit the formation of tumor colonies by breast tumor cells, and if so, which compounds are inhibitory. An extract was prepared from whole cranberry fruit. MCF-7 human breast adenocarcinoma cultures were propagated for use as a tumor model in a soft agar colony assay, which incorporates the cranberry extract into the base and soft agar. Cultures of MCF-10A human mammary cells were used to determine an appropriate dosage range of cranberry extract that would be non-toxic to normal cells. The effect of cranberry on tumor formation was evaluated by comparison of colony proliferation in treated MCF-7 cells with that of untreated cells. Whole cranberry extract was observed to inhibit colony formation. The whole extract was fractionated by column chromatography and the fractions were analyzed by HPLC to determine the presence of cranberry polyphenolics including flavonol and anthocyanin glycosides and proanthocyanidins. The fractions were then evaluated for tumor colony inhibition. The results of these studies will be presented.
Back to Nutritional Chemistry Poster Session
Back to The 33rd Northeast Regional Meeting (July 14-17, 2005)