Antitumor Effect of the Ethanolic Extract from Seeds of Euphorbia lathyris in Colorectal Cancer Mesas Hernández, Cristina Martínez, Rosario Ortiz Quesada, Raúl Galisteo Moya, Milagros López-Jurado Romero De La Cruz, María Cabeza, Laura Perazzoli, Gloria Melguizo Alonso, Consolación Porres Foulquie, Jesús María Prados Salazar, José Carlos Colon cancer Euphorbia lathyris Ethanolic extract Apoptosis Antiangiogenic effect Cancer stem cells The seeds of Euphorbia lathyris have been used in traditional medicine to treat various medical conditions. However, neither all of their active biocompounds nor the molecular mechanisms underlying their therapeutic effects have been described. A new ethanolic extract of defatted flour from mature seeds of Euphorbia lathyris showed a high total polyphenol content and significant antioxidant activity. Chromatographic analysis showed that esculetin, euphorbetin, gaultherin, and kaempferol-3-rutinoside were the most abundant polyphenolic bioactive compounds. Antiproliferative assays showed a high and selective antitumor activity against colon cancer cell lines (T84 and HCT-15). In addition, a significant antiproliferative activity against glioblastoma multiforme cells was also demonstrated. Its mechanism of action to induce cell death was mediated by the overexpression of caspases 9, 3, and 8, and by activation of autophagy. Interestingly, a reduction in the migration capacity of colon cancer cells and a significant antiangiogenic effect on human umbilical vein endothelial cells were also demonstrated. Finally, the extract significantly reduced the subpopulations of cancer stem cells. This extract could be the basis to develop new therapeutic strategies for the treatment of colon cancer, although further experiments will be necessary to determine its in vivo effects. 2021-03-05T11:43:39Z 2021-03-05T11:43:39Z 2021 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Mesas, C.; Martínez, R.; Ortíz, R.; Galisteo, M.; López-Jurado, M.; Cabeza, L.; Perazzoli, G.; Melguizo, C.; Porres, J.M.; Prados, J. Antitumor Effect of the Ethanolic Extract from Seeds of Euphorbia lathyris in Colorectal Cancer. Nutrients 2021, 13, 566. https:// doi.org/10.3390/nu13020566 http://hdl.handle.net/10481/66929 10.3390/nu13020566 eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Atribución 3.0 España MDPI