Abstract
Background: Olive leaves are an agricultural waste product with a high concentration of phenolic compounds, including the bioactive compound oleuropein. Oleuropein has been shown to exhibit anti-proliferative activity against a number of different cancer types. Pancreatic cancer is a devastating, heterogeneous disease with significant resistance to the limited conventional treatment options and high toxicity of current chemotherapy agents. Clearly there is an urgent need for the development of novel therapeutic strategies.
Aims: This study investigated the oleuropein content of olive leaf extracts, and assessed their anti-proliferative activity against pancreatic cancer cells.
Methods: The oleuropein content of two varieties of olive leaf extracts were prepared from 3 different extraction protocols. The oleuropein content of the extracts was assessed and their anti-proliferative capacity against primary pancreatic cancer cells (MiaPaCa-2) and normal pancreas cells (HPDE) was compared to gemcitabine.
Results: Despite differences in the oleuropein content of the different olive leaf extracts, there was no difference between their anti-proliferative capacity (p > 0.05). Furthermore, all extracts (200 μg/mL) significantly decreased the viability of pancreatic cancer cells (MiaPaCa-2) compared to the chemotherapeutic agent gemcitabine (p < 0.05). Importantly, there was no difference in the toxicity of the extracts towards the normal pancreas cells (HPDE) compared to gemcitabine (p > 0.05).
Conclusions: Olive leaf phenolic compounds warrant further investigation into their potential anti-pancreatic cancer activity.
Translational research aspect: This study aligns with the T1 translational pipeline in that is assessing the in vitro potential of novel chemotherapeutic agents for pancreatic cancer.