Purification and characterization of β-galactosidase from newly isolated Aspergillus terreus (KUBCF1306) and evaluating its efficacy on breast cancer cell line (MCF-7).

•β-galactosidase catalyzes hydrolysis and transglycosylation reaction.•β-galactosidase from Aspergillus terreus was purified with maximum enzyme activity 80.6 U/mg, protein and the purification fold 10.78 with 28.26% yield.•Characterization of enzyme activity was done by determining the optimum pH 6.0, temperature 40 °C.•β-galactosidase shows an indicator of the switch mechanism used by cells to enter senescence.•The treatment of MCF-7cell line with β-galactosidase resulted in appreciable inhibition of cell growth.