Hydroxybenzoate (HB) compounds have shown their significance in inducing apoptosis in primary chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and cancer cell lines, including HT-1080. The current study focuses on assessing the effects of 2-, 3-and 4-hydroxybenzoate calcium (HBCa) compounds on MCF-10A, MDA-MB231 and MCF-7 epithelial breast cell lines. The HBCa-treated cells were examined using annexin V, to measure apoptosis in the three epithelial breast cell lines, after 48 h of treatment. The results indicated that 0.5 and 2.5 mmol/L of HBCa induced cell death in a dose-dependent manner. The induction of cell death in normal MCF-10A cells was found to be significantly less (p = 0.0003-0.0068), in comparison to the malignant cell lines (MDA-MB231 and MCF-7). HBCa compounds were also found to cause cell cycle arrest in the epithelial breast cells at G1/G0. Furthermore, HBCa compounds induced the upregulation of apoptotic proteins (p53, p21, Bax and caspase-3), as well as the downregulation of the anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2, which may suggest that apoptosis is induced via the intrinsic pathway. reast cancer is a major global health issue that mainly affects women of all age groups. It is the most common cancer worldwide, with more cases in developing countries than in developed countries [1] . Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer death after lung cancer in developed countries (198,000 cases, 15.4%). Incidence rates continue to increase globally except in a few high-income countries. The estimated breast cancer incidents of less developed cases in 2012 were 883,000 (52.8%) and 788,000 more developed cancer cases, with mortality rates of 324,000 (62.1%) and 198,000 (37.9%), respectively [2] . In contrast, more than 60% of breast cancer patients survive in developed countries. Lower survival rates occur in developing countries due to the lack of early detection schemes and diagnosis [3] . Statistics related to breast cancer cases have attracted the attention of various researchers to effectively treat the cancer with chemotherapy. As part of this effort, a large number of compounds have been assessed for their anticancer potential in dif-B