Abstract Breast cancer (BC) remains a significant health concern for women globally, prompting the relentless pursuit of novel therapeutic modalities.As a traditional Chinese medicine, Boswellia #1 BLACK carterii has been extensively used to treat various cancers, such as BC.However, the anti-BC effect and underlying mechanism of Boswellia carterii remain largely unclear.The aim of this study is to explore the therapeutic effect of Boswellia carterii n-hexane extract (BCHE) against BC as well as its underlying mechanism.
The present study showed that BCHE significantly suppressed the viability of human BC cells.Moreover, BCHE exhibited potent anti-BC activity in vivo with no significant toxic effects.Additionally, BCHE induced ferroptosis via increased Transferrin expression and the intracellular accumulation of Fe2+, as well as decreased glutathione peroxidase 4 (GPX4) expression and the upregulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS)-induced lipid peroxidation in BC cells.In vivo experimental results also demonstrated that BCHE effectively induced ferroptosis through GPX4 downregulation and Transferrin upregulation in tumor-bearing mice.
Overall, BCHE inhibited the growth of BC cells by inducing ferroptosis mediated by modulating the iron accumulation pathway and the lipid peroxidation pathway.Therefore, Hair Removal BCHE could serve as a potential ferroptosis-targeting drug for treating BC.