A New Insight Into the Anti Proliferative and Apoptotic Effects of Fulvic and
Humic Acids as Bio Product of Humus on Breast Cancer Cells, Optimized by
Response Surface Methodology
Today, plant compounds and substances of natural origin as bio products are strongly
recommended for the prevention and treatment of cancer. In the field of biomedicine antiviral, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant properties among the most known activities of
Humus and the products obtained from humus. In this study, the effect of humic and fulvic
acids (HA, FA), bio product of humus, on breast cancer cells (MCF7), the most common
cancer among women, was investigated. To achieve optimum cytotoxic time and determine
the effect of the different parameters the Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was
applied. The main parameters influencing the cytotoxic performance in the MTT assay,
such as time and concentrations were regarded. The cell viability was measured using
different concentrations of HA and FA including 10, 50, 100, and 200 µg/mL for 14, 24,
and 48 h, respectively. Apoptosis, cell cycle, mechanical properties and survivin gene
expression of MCF7 cells treated with HA and FA were analyzed after 14 h. Our results
showed that HA and FA induced apoptosis, reduced cell viability and gene expression in
the cured MCF7 cells. We have seen a dose-dependent behavior of HA in increasing the
cell population in phase Sub-G1. The results of AFM showed that the increasing behavior
of elastic modulus value and cell–cell adhesion forces were dose-dependent in cells treated
with HA and FA. The golden result of this study was the matching of laboratory and
statistical results which confirms the success of the RSM model in biological researches
