OBJECTIVES The Janus kinase-signal transducers and activators of transcription signaling pathway (JAK/STAT pathway) play an important role in proliferation of breast cancer cells. Previous data showed that inhibition of STAT3 suppresses the growth of breast cancer cells, but the associated mechanisms are not well understood. This study aims to investigate the effect and associated mechanisms of...

Various preclinical and clinical studies have linked diabetes and breast cancer, but little is known regarding the molecular mechanism involved. This study aimed to investigate the effect of high glucose and insulin in breast cancer cells (MCF-7: non-invasive, hormone dependent, and MDA-MB-231: invasive, hormone independent). In contrast to MCF-7 cells, high glucose augmented proliferation of M...

The metastatic activity of breast carcinomas results from complex genetic changes in epithelial tumor cells and accounts for 90% of deaths in affected patients. Although the invasion of the local lymphatic vessels and veins by malignant breast tumor cells and their subsequent metastasis to the lung, has been recognized, the mechanisms behind the metastatic activity of breast tumor cells to othe...

Tanshinone IIA (C19H18O3) was extracted from danshen (Salviae miltiorrhizae radix). It has cytotoxic properties and induces apoptosis in many human cancer cells. The molecular mechanisms are poorly understood, therefore, in the present study, we aimed to elucidate its anticancer activity on human breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells. The cytotoxic effects of tanshinone IIA on MDA-MB-231 cells were me...

A recombinant analogue of lactaptin (RL2), a new potential anticancer molecule, induces apoptosis in cultured tumor cells. The tumor suppression efficacy of RL2 was shown against mouse hepatoma-1 cells and MDA-MB-231 human breast adenocarcinoma cells. The RL2-based therapeutic drug lactaptin is distributed evenly throughout the organism, which reduces its antitumor efficacy. In the current stud...

Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are associated with the development and progression of cancer, but it is not known which of the HDAC isoforms play important roles in breast cancer metastasis. This study identified the specific HDAC isoforms that are necessary for invasion and/or migration in human breast cancer cell lines. MDA-MB-231 cells were significantly more invasive and expressed higher leve...

Microtubule Targeting Agents (MTAs) induce cell death through mitotic arrest, preferentially affecting rapidly dividing cancer cells over slowly proliferating normal cells. Previously, we showed that Methyl 2-(-5-fluoro-2-hydroxyphenyl)-1H-benzo[d]imidazole-5-carboxylate (MBIC) acts as a potential MTA. In this study, we demonstrated that MBIC exhibits greater toxicity towards non-aggressive bre...

Sendai virus strain Tianjin is a novel genotype. Here, we investigate the antitumor and proapoptotic effects of ultraviolet-inactivated Sendai virus strain Tianjin (UV-Tianjin) on human breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells in vitro, as well as the involvement of the apoptotic pathway in the mechanism of UV-Tianjin-induced antitumor effects. MTT assays showed that treatment with UV-Tianjin dose-depend...

BACKGROUND Several compounds isolated from Dryobalanops have been reported to exhibit cytotoxic effects to several cancer cell lines. This study investigated the cytotoxic effects, cell cycle arrest and mode of cell death in ampelopsin E-treated triple negative cells, MDA-MB-231. METHODS Cytotoxicity of ampelopsin E, ampelopsin F, flexuosol A, laevifonol, Malaysianol A, Malaysianol D and nepa...

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been used for thousands of years, including treatment for cancer. Use of modern technology and the scientific method to evaluate the efficacy of TCM for cancer should enable its more widespread use. In the present study, the efficacy of the TCM tubeimu, extracted from the tuber of the plant Bolbostemma paniculatum, on the MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cel...