Camel milk and carob fortified yogurts modulate oxidative stress autophagy and migration in HCT-8 colorectal cancer cells

Abstract

This study examined the biological activity of camel milk (CM), control yogurt (YC), and carob-fortified yogurts (YPC and YSC) as fermented dairy-based functional formulations, using human colorectal adenocarcinoma HCT-8 cells. Cells were exposed to 10, 25, and 50 µg/mL for 24 h, and metabolic activity (MTT), intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS; DCFDA), autophagic activity (Cyto-ID ® ), and cell migration (wound-healing assay) were evaluated. All formulations induced a moderate, dose-dependent reduction in metabolic activity without significant differences among treatments. At 50 µg/mL, carob-fortified yogurts produced a stronger increase in ROS, accompanied by early and sustained accumulation of autophagy-associated vesicles, suggesting enhanced redox-sensitive stress signaling. In contrast, CM and non-fortified yogurt more effectively limited cell migratory behavior, whereas carob-fortified samples allowed partial wound closure. These findings highlight that fortification and fermentation modulate distinct cellular pathways, with carob primarily influencing oxidative stress–autophagy responses and non-fortified yogurt exerting stronger effects on motility-related processes. Overall, camel milk–based yogurt represents a relevant food matrix for delivering bioactives with potential relevance for the modulation of colorectal cancer-related cellular processes and diet-associated disease prevention.