Expression of Snail and E-cadherin in Drug-resistant MCF-7/ADM Breast Cancer Cell Strains.

OBJECTIVE

To investigate the expression of zinc finger transcription factors-Snail and E-cadherin in adriamycin-resistant human breast cancer MCF-7/ADM cells and non-resistant MCF-7 cells.

STUDY DESIGN

An experimental study.

PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY

The Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Nanjing Medical University and Jiangsu Cancer Hospital, and Jiangsu Institute of Cancer Research, China, from April 2017 to March 2018.

METHODOLOGY

Real-time quantitative PCR technology was used to detect the expression levels of Snail mRNA and E-cadherin mRNA in normal breast cells, adriamycin-resistant human breast cancer MCF-7/ADM cells and non-resistant MCF-7 cells. Western blot was used to detect the expression levels of proteins of Snail and E-cadherin in normal breast cells, adriamycin-resistant human breast cancer MCF-7/ADM cells and non-resistant MCF-7 cells.

RESULTS

The expression of Snail mRNA and protein in adriamycin-resistant human breast cancer MCF-7/ADM cells was significantly higher than that in normal breast cells (p<0.001) and non-resistant MCF-7 cells (p<0.001). The expression of E-cadherin mRNA and protein in adriamycin-resistant human breast cancer MCF-7/ADM cells was significantly lower than that in normal breast cells (p<0.001) and non-resistant MCF-7 cells (p<0.001).

CONCLUSION

Adriamycin-resistant human breast cancer MCF-7/ADM cell strains had high expression of Snail and low expression of E-cadherin. This points out to a new research direction for the targeted therapy of drug-resistant breast cancer cells, and provides clinical guidance for breast cancer therapy and prognosis evaluation.