TY  - JOUR
N2  - Opuntia ficus-indica peel is known to possess antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anticancer activities and currently is discarded or used for animal feeding. Within this context, the aim of this work was to evaluate the antiproliferative and pro-apoptotic effect of purple prickly pear peel extract (PPE) on the human colon adenocarcinoma cancer cell line (HTC116). The methanolic extract of PPE was characterized in terms of betalain and polyphenols as well as total antioxidant capacity. Cell viability, apoptosis induction, cell cycle arrest, and reactive oxygen species (ROS) production assays were performed. Important proteins and genes related to proliferation and apoptosis were determined. PPE represents a good source of bioactive compounds with a high antioxidant capacity. Cell viability was reduced gradually by PPE treatments, with lower effects in nontumorigenic cells. Compared to the control group, a significant induction of apoptosis as well as cell cycle arrest in the sub-G1 phase and ROS production was observed in PPE-treated cells. Furthermore, the treatment induced the overexpression of p53 at protein levels and upregulated the mRNA expression of pro-apoptotic BAX, CASP9, BID, and CYCS, along with the significant decrease of anti-apoptotic BCL2 gene expression. Simultaneously, cyclin D1 and CDK4 gene expression were significantly decreased, while p21 increased considerably. The treatment also induced the downregulation of Her2 and PI3K at protein levels and caused the suppression of PI3KCA and mTOR expression at gene levels. Overall, these findings suggested that PPE has potential anticancer effects against human colon adenocarcinoma progression.
IS  - 1
JF  - Journal of Food Biochemistry
Y1  - 2026/06//
SN  - 0145-8884
KW  - antiproliferative | cell cycle arrest | colorectal cancer | Opuntia fcus-indica peel | proapoptotic
A1  - Armas Diaz, Yasmany
A1  - Qi, Zexiu
A1  - Yang, Bei
A1  - Cianciosi, Danila
A1  - Mazzoni, Luca
A1  - Gasparrini, Massimiliano
A1  - Forbes-Hernandez, Tamara Y.
A1  - Quiles, José L.
A1  - Calderón Iglesias, Rubén
A1  - Battino, Maurizio
A1  - Giampieri, Francesca
ID  - uneatlantico28586
VL  - 2026
TI  - Valorization of Purple Prickly Pear Peel By?Products: Antiproliferative and Pro?Apoptotic Effects on Human Colorectal Cancer Cells HCT116
UR  - http://doi.org/10.1155/jfbc/9961129
AV  - public
ER  -