Parabens are used in cosmetics and pharmaceutical products because of their preservative and antimicrobial nature. Parabens have been found to be toxic to mammalian cells, and, therefore, they have the potential to induce cancer cell death. A clonogenic assay, performed with concentrations of 0.10 millimolar, 0.15 millimolar, 0.20 millimolar, and 0.25 millimolar, showed that heptyl paraben, a novel paraben, induces cell death in the human M624 melanoma cells line with an LC<sub>50</sub> of 0.196 millimolar. The cell death pathway induced by heptyl paraben has been identified through the analysis of PARP cleavage and release of cytochrome c from the mitochondria using the western blot procedure. The western blot procedures were conducted with the concentrations of heptyl paraben previously listed, along with ethanol, the solvent heptyl paraben is dissolved in. The cell death pathway is important to consider in cancer treatments because necrotic death has the potential to cause more harm to the body.

Effects of heptyl paraben on melanoma cell death

ACS Spring 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.