The vitamin D3 analog EB 1089 enhances the antiproliferative and apoptotic effects of adriamycin in MCF-7 breast tumor cells.

Exposure of MCF-7 breast tumor cells to the vitamin D3 analog, EB 1089 enhances the response to adriamycin. Clonogenic survival studies indicate that EB 1089 shifts the dose-response curve for sensitivity to adriamycin by approximately six-fold in p53 wild-type MCF-7 cells; comparative studies in MCF-7 cells with a temperature-sensitive dominant negative p53 mutation show less than a two-fold shift in adriamycin sensitivity in the presence of EB 1089. The combination of EB 1089 with adriamycin also promotes apoptotic cell death in the p53 wild-type MCF-7 cells but not in the MCF-7 cells expressing mutant p53. EB 1089 treatment blocks the increase in p21waf1/cip1 levels induced by adriamycin and interferes with induction of MAP kinase activity by ionizing radiation, effects which could be related to the capacity of EB 1089 to promote secretion of insulin-like growth factor binding protein. Taken together with our previous findings that EB 1089 enhances breast tumor cell sensitivity to ionizing radiation, there studies further support the concept that vitamin D3 analogs could have utility in combination with conventional chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy in the treatment of breast cancer.