Estrogenic activity of freeze-dried silkworm extracts through the activation of estrogen receptors in MCF-7 cells

Abstract Silkworm is an insect that feeds on mulberry leaves only, and silkworm powder has been reported to have antioxidant, hypoglycemic, anticholesterol activities. In this study, we measured the content of 1-deoxynojirimycin (1-DNJ) in 24 different extracts from cocoons also investigated estrogenic activities these their effects activation intracellular signaling pathways MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Among extracts, relatively high 1-DNJ activity were shown by Extract 11 (30E3H20-1), which was prepared a single extraction with 20 times volume 30% ethanol against each weight for 3 h. The estrogen receptor extract confirmed based its promoting phosphorylation α (ERα) mRNA expression ESR1 ESR2 genes. addition, treatment (30E3H20-1) increased AKT, p38, JNK, are downstream proteins ERα. Based our findings, could be developed as natural supplement future.