There is strong evidence for prunes as a health food for improvement in digestion due to their high fiber content. More recent work has shown that prunes also have a positive impact on bone health, attributed in part to the antioxidant compounds and polyphenols they possess. Despite their important antioxidant role, the anticancer properties of prunes has yet to be determined. We hypothesize that treatment of osteosarcoma cell lines with prune extract will lead to a decrease in cell proliferation and migration, driven at least in part due to the antioxidant compounds. We will treat chondrocyte and osteosarcoma cell lines with varying concentrations of prune extract, and use a CellTiterGlo assay and in vitro scratch assays to measure the effects on cell proliferation and migration, respectively. A key component of our work is establishing the optimum cell culturing conditions and developing robust protocols for important cancer phenotype assays. This includes making the prune extract of which the cells will be treated. Upon completion of these experiments, we hope to better understand the effects of prunes on bone health and disease.
