Studies on mechanism of cis9,trans11-CLA and trans10,cis12-CLA inducing apoptosis of human breast cancer cell line MCF-7

Objective： The aim of the study was to explore the activities of cis9, trans11-CLA （C9, t11-CLA） and transl0, cis12-CLA （t10, c12-CLA） inhibiting tumor, and investigate their relationships with PPARy and apoptotic proteins, and mechanism of anti-cancer. Methods： The inhibitory rate, cell growth curve and apoptotic morphological observation of MCF-7 cells were obtained by MTT assay, trypan blue staining and Hoechst33342 fluorescence staining. The apoptotic rate and cell cycle were detected with flow cytometry. Transcriptional level of genes was detected with RT-PCR semi-quantitative method, and Western blot was performed to detect proteins levels. Results： The two CLA isomers could reduce cell proliferation （P 〈 0.05）, increase apoptotic rate （P 〈 0.05）, and increase obviously the transcriptional and protein levels of PPARy （P 〈 0.01）. The synchronism and correlation between the effects of CLA to PPARy and apoptotic proteins Bax, Bcl-2, Caspase 3 changes were found with the dose- and time-dependent manners. There was cooperative relation between the levels of PPARy and the rates of Bax/Bcl-2, Caspase 3 （small fragment） by experiments of PPARy inhibitor GW9662 and ligand Rosiglitazone. Conclusion： The apoptotic pathway of PPARy-Bcl-2-Caspase 3 signaling was found. The C9, t11-CLA and tl0, c12-CLA could inhibit MCF-7 cell proliferation and promote apoptosis via activating PPARy-Bcl-2-Caspase 3 pathway. CLA may be a kind of activator of PPARv.

The establishment of stable transfection of human breast cancer cell line MDA-MD-468 with exogenous PTEN gene

To investigate exogenous PTEN gene transfected human breast cancer cell line MDA-MD-468.Methods Using the lipofectamine 2000 transfection technique,wild type PTEN gene was transducted into an in vitro cultured highly metastatic breast cancer cell line MDA-MD-468.After transfection,the cells were selected by G418.The resistant clones were chosen and expanded in DMEM culture medium.RT-PCR,immunohistochemical method and western blot were used to determine the expression of target genes.Results An anti-G418 cell clone was established and expanded in culture.The transfected PTEN gene MDA-MD-468 cells showed expression of PTEN mRNA and PTEN protein.Conclusion Human breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-468 established in this study expresses consistently exogenous PTEN genes.4 refs,6 figs.

Inhibitory Effects of Mild Hyperthermia plus Docetaxel Therapy on ER(+/–) Breast Cancer Cells and Action Mechanisms

Summary： The purpose of this study was to verify that a combination of mild hyperthermia and do- cetaxel chemotherapy produces synergistic antitumor effects and to explore the action mechanisms of this treatment approach. The effects of docetaxel on the proliferation of cells from the estrogen receptor （ER）-positive human breast cancer cell line MCF-7 and the ER-negative human breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-453 were examined by 3-（4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl）-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide （MTT） assay, and effective experimental concentrations of docetaxel were determined. The effects of mild hy- perthermia plus docetaxel therapy on apoptosis rate in the MCF-7 and MDA-MB-453 human breast cancer cell lines were analyzed by using flow cytometry with Annexin-V fluorescein isothiocyanate （FITC）/propidium iodide （PI） staining. The effects of these combined treatments on cell cycle progres- sion in the MCF-7 and MDA-MB-453 human breast cancer cell lines were examined by using flow cy- tometry. The effects of these combined treatments on the expression of apoptosis-related proteins and proteins in the mitogen-activated protein kinase （MAPK） pathways were analyzed by using Western blotting. The effects of these combined treatments on the expression of the heat shock protein 70 （HSP70） and the multi-drug resistance （MDR） gene product P-glycoprotein （Pgp） were examined by using Western blotting. The results showed that the half-maximal inhibitory concentration （IC50） of do- cetaxel for MCF-7 and MDA-MB-453 cells was 19.57±1.12 and 21.64±2.31 gmol/L respectively. Mild hyperthermia with docetaxel therapy could increase apoptosis rate in the MCF-7 and MDA-MB-453 cells. Apoptosis rate in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-453 cells was increased from （23.66±3.59）% and （18.51±3.17）% in docetaxel treatment group to （47.12±6.73）% and （55.16±7.42）% in mild hyperthermia plus docetaxel group, indicating that the mild hyperthermia and docetaxel therapeutic approaches exhib- ited significant synergistic antitumor effects. Treatments of mild hyperthermia plus docetaxel induced G2/M cell cycle arrest in the MCF-7 and MDA-MB-453 cells. Western blotting demonstrated that pro- teins in the MAPK pathway were expressed at higher levels in docetaxel-treated cells following mild hypothermia than those in cells treated with docetaxel alone. As compared with blank control group, cells from the mild hyperthermia plus docetaxel group exhibited significantly decreased B-cell lym- phoma 2 （Bcl-2） protein expression but slightly increased Bcl-2-associated X protein （Bax） expression. Western blotting results revealed that HSP70 and Pgp expression levels were significantly increased following mild hypothermia. It was concluded that treatments of mild hyperthermia plus docetaxel in- hibited the proliferation of human breast cancer cells, promoted apoptosis of breast cancer cells, and produced synergistic antitumor effects.

REVERSION OF MULTIDRUG RESISTANCE IN THE P-GLYCOPROTEIN POSITIVE BREAST CANCER CELL LINE(MCF-7/ADR) BY INTRODUCTION OF HAMMERHEAD RIBOZYME

A hammerhead ribozyme which site-specifically cleaved the GUC position in canon 880 of the mdr1 mRNA was designed. The target site was chosen between the two ATP binding sites, which may be important for the function of the P-Gp as an ATP-dependent pump. A DNA sequence encoding the ribozyme gene was then incorporated into a eukaryotic expression vector (pH Apr-1 neo) and transfected into the breast cancer cell line MCF-7/Adr, which is resistant to adriamycin and expresses the MDR phenotype. The ribozyme was stably expressed in the cell line by the RNA dot blotting assay. The result of Northern blot assay showed that the expressed ribozyme could decrease the level of mdrl mRNA expression by 83. 5 %; and the expressed ribozyme could inhibite the formation of p-glycoprotein detected by immuno- cy-tochemistry assay and could reduce the cell’s resistance to adrimycin; this means that the resistant cells were 1 000-fold more resistant than the parental cell line(MCF-7), whereas those cell clones that showed ribozyme expression were only 6-fold more resistant than the parental cell line. These results show that a potentially useful tool is at hand which may inactivate MDR1 mRNA and revert the multidrug resistance phenotype.

A comparison study of the cytotoxicity of salinomycin and salinomycin sodium toward human breast cancer stem cells as well as breast cancer cells

Salinomycin（SAL）,a polyether antibiotic isolated from Streptomyces albus,is widely used as an anticoccidial drug in poultry and other livestock and is furthermore fed to ruminescent animals to improve nutrient absorption and feed efficiency.It has recently been shown to act as a specific inhibitor of cancer stem cells.At present,the price of salinomycin sodium（SAL-Na） is 10 fold lower than that of salinomycin,however,there is no report about the comparison of the inhibitory effects of SAL and SAL-Na on cancer stem cells as well as cancer cells.In the present study,side population cells（SP cells）and non-SP cells （NSP cells）sorted from human breast cancer cell line MCF-7 were chosen as the models of cancer stem cells and cancer cells, respectively.SRB assay was performed to compare the cytotoxicity of SAL and SAL-Na.First of all,SP cells were sorted from MCF-7 cells via FACSDiva flow cytometry.Secondly,the sorted SP cells were identified with the surface makers（CD44~＋/CD24^-） of breast cancer stem cells.Finally,the inhibitory effects of SAL and SAL-Na were evaluated on the sorted SP cells and NSP cells.Results showed that,as compared to breast cancer cells,the inhibitory effect of free SAL or free SAL-Na was more potent in breast cancer stem cells.Furthermore,the inhibitory effects of free SAL and free SAL-Na had no significant difference for the SP cells as well as the NSP cells when they were in the same concentration.Thus,it suggested that salinomycin sodium should be considered as a potential candidate to take the place of salinomycin in cancer stem cells research,due to their similar inhibitory effects on cancer stem cells.