Antitumor impact of amygdalin on adaptive immune response in BALB/c mice with breast cancer

Abstract

Amygdalin is a potential therapeutically target in cancer. The main purpose of this experimental study was to evaluate the therapeutic effect of amygdalin in the mice model of breast cancer. The percentages of CD4, CD8 T lymphocyte, intracellular IFN-γ, and Granzyme B were assessed in spleen cells of tumorized mice treated with 50 and 150 mg/kg of amygdalin (AG₅₀ and AG₁₅₀). The expression of caspase 3 and p53, tumor size, and survival rate of Balb/c mice was determined in tumor tissue after amygdalin administration. No significant difference was observed in the frequency of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in the three study groups. However, a significantly increased level of granzyme B in CD8+ T cells, as well as a significant decrease in the level of IL-10 in CD4+ T cells was detected in the AG₅₀ group compared to the AG₁₅₀. There was no significant difference in the expression of caspase 3 and P53 between the two groups. A significant change was seen in tumor size and survival rate of AG₅₀ and AG₁₅₀ groups compared to the controls. Our findings indicated that antitumor effect of amygdalin in vivo was probably due to stimulating the effective immune response, not apoptotic genes induction.