Quantitative Gene Expression of ERG9 in Model Saccharomyces cerevisiae: Chamomile Extract For Human Cancer Treatment.

BACKGROUND

Over expression of squalene synthase gene causes induction of growth tumour and reduction of apoptosis. This gene which is conserved between Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast and humans, is named (ERG9).

OBJECTIVE

In this work, we studied the effect of Matricaria recutita extract on ERG9 gene (squalene synthase) expression in S.cerevisiae which was used as organism model in cancer therapy.

METHODS

S. cerevisiae was cultured in YPD medium plus 0,250, 1000 and 3000 μg/ml of Matricaria recutita extract and we evaluated the (ERG9) gene expression by Real-time RT-PCR method after 24 hours.

METHODS

At least 3 independent experiments were done. Data were analyzed using One-way ANOVA and Dunnett's test. A p-value of less than 0.01 was considered as significant.

RESULTS

We found that 250, 1000 and 3000 μg/ml of Matricaria recutita extract could reduce expression of ERG9 gene significantly (p<0.01). Interestingly, the expression of this gene was completely inhibited in 1000 and 3000 μg/ml concentrations.

CONCLUSIONS

This study predicted that Matricaria recutita extract produced anti-cancer effects in humans, because it could inhibit the expression of an analogue key gene in this malignant disease. Further investigations should be made, to study its molecular mechanism of action at the mammal cell level.