Evaluation of the anticancer activity of Origanum Marjoram as a safe natural drink for daily use

Background: Chemotherapeutic agents have numerous side effects. There is a major interest in using natural and safe plants as food or drink to prevent from cancer. Origanum marjoram (OMAE) is a medicinal plant that can be used as a tea, food, and additive in traditional medicine. Objective: This study aimed to evaluate the potential anticancer effects of OMAE as a soft drink for daily use against a model cancer, prevention and treatment. Method: MCF-7 cells were chosen as model cancer cells. The MTT assay was used to assess the in vitro inhibitory effects of OMAE on cell growth. Moreover, quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to detect specific genes associated with cancer, such as ESR1, Bax, Bcl-2, and p53. Furthermore, the DNA damage was evaluated using the comet assay. Results: OMAE has IC50 of 53.1 and IC90 of 97.5 mu g/ml dependent inhibition of cell proliferation after 48 h of treatment toward MCF-7. Also, a significant decrease in the expression level of the ESR1 gene in the MCF-7 cell line. Furthermore, there was a significant increase in the comet length and comet-positive cells after treatment with OMAE (88.7%) compared with those in the untreated control cells (9.5%), suggesting a high induction of DNA damage by OMAE. Also, OMAE showed a modification in bcl-2, tumor suppressor gene (p53), and Bax levels and influenced the BAX/BCL-2 ratio via releasing the cytochrome C. Conclusion: The results of the study were promising, suggesting that the reduced apoptotic rate of MCF7 breast cancer cells in this work was correlated to the potential anticancer effect of OMAE which would be a suitable preventable drink against cancer. However, further studies are needed to fully understand the potential of OMAE as a cancer treatment.