Background: Cancer is the leading cause of death in developing nations after cardiac diseases. Fighting cancer is a highly challenging task. Natural compounds are becoming a major source for many anti-cancer drugs. Camel milk is well known for its benefits to human health and is believed to be able to treat several ailments, including cancer.
Aim: The current study was designed to explore at the possible effects of camel milk on tongue squamous cell carcinoma cell line (HNO-97 cells).
Methods: The anticancer effectiveness of camel milk was assessed using cell viability assay, cytological evaluation, flow cytometric analysis, nuclear morphometric assay, western blotting technique, and statistical analysis.
Results: The findings demonstrated that camel milk had a dose-dependent cytotoxic impact on HNO-97 cells. Camel milk mainly triggered apoptosis on HNO-97 cells. Nuclear morphometric report revealed that, the mean nuclear area factor values of the HNO-97 treated groups were less than those of the control group. Regarding western blotting technique, caspase-3 and P53 expression levels were significantly increased in the treated groups.
Conclusion: Camel milk considerably increased the cytotoxic effect on HNO-97 cells.
Keywords: Camel milk, tongue squamous cell carcinoma cell line, apoptosis, flow cytometric analysis, nuclear morphometric assay, and western blotting technique.
Ethical Regulation: All investigations included in the current study were conducted in compliance with the ethical guidelines of the Research Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Dentistry, Minia University, Egypt, with approval number 667 on Tuesday, 27/12/2022.