Carotenoid pigments of tomatoes and their antitumoral potential

Abstract

The aim of this study was to show the influence of a tomato extract on hepatocellular carcinoma cells in vitro, proving their capacity to modulate the secretion of VEGF and ET-1 and thus demonstrating its inhibitory effect on tumor neovascularization. Human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line HepG2 was treated with a tomato extract, obtained from fresh tomato fruits. The expression of VEGF and Endothelin- 1 by the treated cells, compared to an untreated control was assessed by ELISA. Our results proved that VEGF and Endothelin-1 expression was significantly diminished by the tomato extract, as compared to the untreated control. Therefore, our in vitro study showed that the carotenoid rich tomato extract is able to decrease tumoral neoangiogenesis in hepatocellular carcinoma and needs to be followed by clinical trials that could open new perspectives regarding the use of tomato carotenoids as adjuvant therapeutic agents.