Department of Health Sciences, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON L2S 3A1, Canada.
Centre for Bone and Muscle Health, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, L2S 3A1, Canada.
Int J Mol Sci. 2020 Jan 27;21(3):810. doi: 10.3390/ijms21030810.
Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in women. Triple-negative (TN) breast cancer lacks expression of estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) as well as the expression and/or gene amplification of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2). TN breast cancer is aggressive and does not respond to hormone therapy, therefore new treatments are urgently needed. Plant-derived chemicals have contributed to the establishment of chemotherapy agents. In previous studies, rosemary extract (RE) has been found to reduce cell proliferation and increase apoptosis in some cancer cell lines. However, there are very few studies examining the effects of RE in TN breast cancer. In the present study, we examined the effects of RE on TN MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell proliferation, survival/apoptosis, Akt, and mTOR signaling. RE inhibited MDA-MB-231 cell proliferation and survival in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, RE inhibited the phosphorylation/activation of Akt and mTOR and enhanced the cleavage of PARP, a marker of apoptosis. Our findings indicate that RE has potent anticancer properties against TN breast cancer and modulates key signaling molecules involved in cell proliferation and survival.
乳腺癌是女性最常见的癌症。三阴性（TN）乳腺癌缺乏雌激素受体（ER）、孕激素受体（PR）的表达，以及人表皮生长因子受体 2（HER2）的表达和/或基因扩增。TN 乳腺癌侵袭性强，对激素治疗无反应，因此急需新的治疗方法。植物源性化学物质为化疗药物的建立做出了贡献。在以前的研究中，迷迭香提取物（RE）已被发现可减少某些癌细胞系的细胞增殖并增加细胞凋亡。然而，研究 RE 对 TN 乳腺癌影响的研究很少。在本研究中，我们研究了 RE 对 TN MDA-MB-231 乳腺癌细胞增殖、存活/凋亡、Akt 和 mTOR 信号的影响。RE 呈剂量依赖性抑制 MDA-MB-231 细胞增殖和存活。此外，RE 抑制 Akt 和 mTOR 的磷酸化/激活，并增强凋亡标志物 PARP 的裂解。我们的研究结果表明，RE 对 TN 乳腺癌具有很强的抗癌特性，并调节参与细胞增殖和存活的关键信号分子。
