Biophenols characterization of extra virgin olive oil extracts and in vitro test on a model of colorectal cancer cells

Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO) is believed to exert beneficial effects against many pathological processes, including the development of colorectal cancer (CRC). It is well known that olive oil contains a variety of biophenols, which are thought to be responsible for this anti-carcinogenic effects [1]. Several studies have shown that the expression of estrogen receptor β (ERβ) is significantly reduced in colon cancer cells. To investigate the correlation between the presence of biophenols and the beneficial effects, different EVOOs have been chemical characterized and in vitro tested on a model of human colon cancer cell line HCT8-β8 [2]. Chemical characterization of extracts was performed by HPLC/DAD/MS techniques [3]; three main categories were identified (Table 1): simple phenols, secoiridoids, and lignans. Consequently, we have evaluated the in vitro effects of the EVOOs extracts (5-75 µM) and of hydroxytyrsol (OH-Tyr) standard (5-50 µM) on HCT8-β8 [4]. Both extracts have showed a biological activity on HCT8-β8 at the concentration of 25 µM, whereas OH-Tyr at 5 µM. Additionally, at the same concentration, EVOO2 has showed an anti-proliferative effect higher than EVOO1 (Table 2). In conclusion EVOOs extracts can inhibit the mitotic activity of colon cancer and it seems correlated to the biophenols concentration.