{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,17]],"date-time":"2026-07-17T02:15:40Z","timestamp":1784254540894,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":51,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"5","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,2]],"date-time":"2023-03-02T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1677715200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Higher Education Commission (HEC)","award":["#8038"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["#8038"]}]},{"name":"Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE), at the Korea Institute for the Advancement of Technology (KIAT)","award":["#8038"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["#8038"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Plants"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Breast cancer (BC) is known to be the most common malignancy among women throughout the world. Plant-derived natural products have been recognized as a great source of anticancer drugs. In this study, the efficacy and anticancer potential of the methanolic extract of Monotheca buxifolia leaves using human breast cancer cells targeting WNT\/\u03b2-catenin signaling was evaluated. We used methanolic and other (chloroform, ethyl acetate, butanol, and aqueous) extracts to discover their potential cytotoxicity on breast cancer cells (MCF-7). Among these, the methanol showed significant activity in the inhibition of the proliferation of cancer cells because of the presence of bioactive compounds, including phenols and flavonoids, detected by a Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer and by gas chromatography mass spectrometry. The cytotoxic effect of the plant extract on the MCF-7 cells was examined by MTT and acid phosphatase assays. Real-time PCR analysis was performed to measure the mRNA expression of WNT-3a and \u03b2-catenin, along with Caspase-1,-3,-7, and -9 in MCF-7 cells. The IC50 value of the extract was found to be 232 \u03bcg\/mL and 173 \u03bcg\/mL in the MTT and acid phosphatase assays, respectively. Dose selection (100 and 300 \u03bcg\/mL) was performed for real-time PCR, Annexin V\/PI analysis, and Western blotting using Doxorubicin as a positive control. The extract at 100 \u03bcg\/mL significantly upregulated caspases and downregulated the WNT-3a and \u03b2-catenin gene in MCF-7 cells. Western blot analysis further confirmed the dysregulations of the WNT signaling component (*** p&lt; 0.0001). The results showed an increase in the number of dead cells in methanolic extract-treated cells in the Annexin V\/PI analysis. Our study concludes that M. buxifolia may serve as an effective anticancer mediator through gene modulation that targets WNT\/\u03b2-catenin signaling, and it can be further characterized using more powerful experimental and computational tools.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/plants12051147","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,3]],"date-time":"2023-03-03T01:43:00Z","timestamp":1677807780000},"page":"1147","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["In Vitro Analysis of Cytotoxic Activities of Monotheca buxifolia Targeting WNT\/\u03b2-Catenin Genes in Breast Cancer Cells"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"12","author":[{"given":"Ambreen","family":"Sher","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Basic and Applied Sciences, International Islamic University, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sobia","family":"Tabassum","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Basic and Applied Sciences, International Islamic University, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2804-3304","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Heather Mann","family":"Wallace","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3FX, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-2039-5305","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Asifullah","family":"Khan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Computer and Information Sciences, Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences (PIEAS), Islamabad 44000, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8828-7090","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Asad Mustafa","family":"Karim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Oriental Medicine Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences, Kyung Hee University, Yongin-si 17104, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sarah","family":"Gul","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Basic and Applied Sciences, International Islamic University, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0790-2237","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Se Chan","family":"Kang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Oriental Medicine Biotechnology, College of Life Sciences, Kyung Hee University, Yongin-si 17104, Republic of Korea"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,3,2]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"49","DOI":"10.3892\/or.2020.7846","article-title":"Germline mutations and blood malignancy","volume":"45","author":"Gong","year":"2021","journal-title":"Oncol. 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