ANTIPROLIFERATIVE ACTIVITY OF AQUEOUS-ETHANOL EXTRACTS OF LENZITES BETULINUS AND TRAMETES VERSICOLOR AGAINST BREAST CARCINOMA CELLS

518 Volume 5, Issue 10: Special Issue (EJAR) ISSN: 2181-2020 MPHAPP THE 6TH INTERNATIONAL SCIENTIFIC AND PRACTICAL CONFERENCE “MODERN PHARMACEUTICS: ACTUAL PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS” TASHKENT, OCTOBER 17, 2025 in-academy.uz ANTIPROLIFERATIVE ACTIVITY OF AQUEOUS-ETHANOL EXTRACTS OF LENZITES BETULINUS AND TRAMETES VERSICOLOR AGAINST BREAST CARCINOMA CELLS Harbatsevich H.I.¹ Doroshenko T.M.² Portyanko A.S.², Bobrova N.M.² Severin I.N.² 1Belarusian State Medical University, Minsk, Republic of Belarus 2 N.N. Alexandrov National Cancer Centre of Belarus, Minsk, Republic of Belarus e-mail: [email protected], tel. (71)-256-39-54 https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17343775 Relevance. Malignant tumors remain one of the leading causes of mortality worldwide, with breast carcinoma ranking first in incidence among women. Despite the development of modern therapeutic approaches, drug resistance and pronounced side effects of cytostatic drugs necessitate the search for new selective agents with antiproliferative activity. A promising direction is the study of biologically active compounds from natural sources, among which polypore fungi are of particular interest due to their richness in polysaccharides and triterpenoids with pronounced immunostimulatory and cytotoxic properties. In particular, the relatively unexplored yet widely distributed species Lenzites betulinus and Trametes versicolor are potential sources of new anticancer agents. Aim of the study: To investigate the antiproliferative activity of aqueous-ethanol extracts of L. betulinus and T. versicolor against breast carcinoma ZR-75 cells. Materials and methods: Extracts were obtained by maceration of fungal material in 70% ethanol. Human cell cultures were used in the experiment: Bj-hTERT (normal fibroblasts) and ZR75 (breast carcinoma). Doxorubicin (20 μM) served as the reference drug. A 1% stock solution of the studied extracts was prepared in phosphate-buffered saline (pH 7.4) with 1% DMSO, followed by filtration through a 0.25 μm filter. Cell viability was assessed using the MTT assay. Results: At low concentrations (1:20), the extracts exhibited the highest selectivity: the L. betulinus extract inhibited ZR-75 cell growth by 63.9±7.1%, while the effect on normal Bj-hTERT fibroblasts was significantly lower (18.6±20.4%, p<0.05). For T. versicolor, inhibition of ZR-75 cells reached 69.0±3.2%, while only 30.7±13.9% inhibition was observed in Bj-hTERT cells (p<0.05). In contrast, doxorubicin suppressed both tumor (72.9±5.2%) and normal cells (82.5±5.3%). At higher concentrations (2:20–5:20), the effect of the extracts on ZR-75 cells remained comparable to doxorubicin (up to 69.5±6.5% for L. betulinus and 68.2±4.6% for T. versicolor), but the impact on Bj-hTERT cells significantly increased (up to 71.6±7.7% and 69.8±3.8%, respectively). Conclusions: Both studied extracts demonstrate antiproliferative effects against breast carcinoma cells: at low concentrations, they show relative selectivity toward tumor cells, but with increasing concentrations, their action becomes non-specific, though stronger (comparable to doxorubicin). The obtained results confirm the prospects for further investigation of Lenzites betulinus and Trametes versicolor as potential sources of new anticancer compounds.