In Vitro Cytotoxic Study of Euphorbia grantii Oliv. Aerial Parts against MCF-7 and MCF-7^ADR Breast Cancer Cell Lines: A Bioactivity-Guided Isolation

The development of highly efficient and low-toxicityanticancerdrugs is one of the most critical problems in the medical field. Euphorbia grantii is commonly reported as an antiviralplant; a dilute solution of its latex is used for intestinal wormsand to promote blood clotting and tissue healing. Our study evaluatedthe antiproliferative activity of the total extract, its respectivefractions, and the isolated compounds from E. grantii aerial parts. A phytochemical study was done by several chromatographicmethods, and the cytotoxic activity was assessed using the sulforhodamineB assay. The dichloromethane fraction (DCMF) exhibited promisingcytotoxic activity against breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and MCF-7(ADR)), with an IC50 of 10.31 and 10.41 mu g/mL,respectively. Chromatographic purification of the active fractionrevealed the isolation of eight compounds. Among the isolated compounds,euphylbenzoate (EB) exhibited a promising effect with an IC50 of 6.07 and 6.54 mu M against MCF-7 and MCF-7(ADR),respectively, while other compounds showed no activity. Euphol, cycloartenylacetate, cycloartenol, and epifriedelinyl acetate showed moderateactivity (33.27-40.44 mu M). Euphylbenzoate has smartlytackled both apoptosis and autophagy programmed cell death mechanisms.These results demonstrated that E. grantii aerial parts yield active compounds with significant antiproliferativepotential.