Induce apoptosis in cancer cells has been a major study in the last decade. To study the effect of Phyllanthus emblica (P. emblica) has been investigated as an anti-cancer property. Nevertheless, their effect of growth inhibition of cancer cells and down regulation of survivin expression was studied in great detail. The MCF-7 cells were treated with various concentrations (0-100 µg/ml) of P. emblica extract. Apoptosis rate was measured, DNA damage was confirmed and the apoptotic proteins were evaluated by Western blot analysis. The P. emblica extract decreased the number of viable MCF-7 cells in a dose dependent manner with an IC50 of 54 µg/ml. Western blot analysis showed increased expression of pro-apoptotic protein caspase-3 in MCF-7 cells compared to untreated cells and decreased expression of the anti-apoptotic protein survivin. An induction of apoptosis was evidenced by (AO/EtBr). The P. emblica extract may have anti-cancer effects by inducing apoptosis signaling cascades via an upregulation of caspase-3 proteins and through the reduction of Survivin protein expression, which subsequently lead to increased DNA damage and apoptosis in breast cancer cells.
