Introduction:

Breast cancer is a disease that is increasing its incidence yearly; it is thus in search of complementary alternatives for treatment, some medicinal plants containing large amounts of polyphenols have been studied, which have anti-cancer effects as is the case of Cenchrus echinatus L.

Objective:

determine the safety and protective effect of the extract ethanolic of Cenchrus echinatus L. (cadillo) on 7,12-Dimethylbenzo[a]anthracene DMBA-induced breast cancer in Rattus rattus.

Methods:

Preclinical, experimental study in male Balb/C53 mice and Holtzman rats of both sexes. Acute toxicity (DL50) and toxicity at 45 days were calculated by methods of the probits and OECD respectively; to evaluate the protective effect the method of Barros 2004 was used, also the proliferation of tumor cells was recorded microscopically, using descriptive and inferential statistical analysis, considering p<0.05.

Results:

The safety studies demonstrate that the extract does not induce significant changes at the hematological, biochemical, and anatomopathological levels. A 76.92 % of the protective effect of the extract against DMBA-induced breast cancer in rats was achieved.

Conclusions:

It has been shown that the extract of Cenchrus echinatus L. presents a protective effect on 7,12-Dimethylbenzo[a]anthracene-induced breast cancer in Rattus rattus, and is not toxic to mice and rats.

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