Ferula ferulaeoides ethyl acetate extract induces apoptosis in esophageal cancer cells via mitochondrial and PI3K/Akt/Bad pathways

Background: Ferula ferulaeoides (Steud.) Korovin is a traditional ethnopharmacological plant used for lump elimination and as a spice, especially in places like India. It has also been employed in the livestock and food industries. This investigation aimed to explore the anti-tumor mechanisms of ethyl acetate extract fractions of dried roots of Ferula ferulaeoides (FF-EtOAc) on esophageal cancer (EC) cells. Furthermore, it was hypothesized that FF-EtOAc could inhibit EC cells growths by inducing apoptosis. Results: In a time- and dose-dependent manner, FF-EtOAc considerably reduced the number of migrating EC cells. And FF-EtOAc also inhibited the growth of EC cells in vivo, and it is less toxic to nude mice. In terms of the FF-EtOAc anticancer mechanism, the findings revealed that FF-EtOAc inhibited EC cells growth by activating mitochondrial signaling pathways and PI3K/Akt/Bad signaling pathways. Conclusions: Through both in vitro and in vivo experiments, FF-EtOAc significantly exhibited antiesophageal cancer activity. The anti-EC activity of FF-EtOAc may be due to the activation of the mitochondrial apoptotic and PI3K/Akt/Bad signaling pathways. (c) 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of King Saud University. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).