Thesis (MSc) - Cyprus International University. Institute of Graduate Studies and Research Bioengineering Department

Includes bibliography (sheets 36-43)

ABSTRACT
Breast cancer (BC) is one of the leading causes of death globally, resulting to 2.26 million cases in the world. Among treatment used to down regulate this tumor cells include surgery, immunotherapy and chemotherapy. Although, there are habituation expressed by the tumor cells after using the later. Different plants have been used in the treatment of diseases ranging from bacterial infection to cancer. Among natural health products which has been confirmed to be potent and still undergoing clinical trials include dandelion plant which is also known as Taraxacum officinale. Characterization of Dandelion root extract (DRE) was evaluated by gas chromatography mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) device. Trypan blue exclusion assay was used to determine the cytotoxic effect on MDA- MB 231 cells, antioxidant activity using diphenylpicryl hydrazine (DPPH) scavenging assay and antimicrobial activity was assessed by disc diffusion assay. The GC-MS result revealed the presence of bioactive compounds like polyphenols, triterpenoids and flavonoids. In this study, it was shown that dandelion root extract (DRE) efficiently killed the tumor cells in a dose dependent manner. Antioxidant activities carried out using DPPH as stable radical shows IC50 value of 0.421 ± 0.001 mg/mL. DRE did not show any inhibitory effect against two gram negative and gram-positive bacterial pathogen. Our study shows that DRE has proven novel in killing breast cancer cells, mildly strong antioxidant activity to scavenge free radicals and no inhibitory effect against some bacteria.