Alterations of MCF-7 human breast cancer cell after prostaglandins PGA1 and PGF2 alpha treatment.

Treatment of monolayer cultures of MCF-7 cells with prostaglandins PGA1 and PGF2 alpha inhibited cell proliferation, reduced the rate of labeled precursor incorporation into DNA, RNA, and protein, and induced morphological changes in a dose-dependent manner. The rate of [3H]thymidine incorporation was increased by PGA1 at 10(-10)-10(-8) M, while a sharp decrease was observed at 10(-6)-10(-4) M (p less than 0.05 and p less than 0.005). PGF2 alpha inhibited [3H]thymidine incorporation at all concentrations tested. Similar results were obtained for [3H]uridine incorporation with both PGs. PGA1 inhibited [3H]leucine incorporation at 10(-4) M, but increased incorporation at 10(-10)-10(-6) M. At the ultrastructural level, neither PG induced morphological alterations at 10(-12)-10(-8) M. However, at 10(-6)-10(-4) M both PGA1 and PGF2 alpha diminished the number and size of cell surface projections; some cells appeared to completely lack microvilli. Disorganization of mitochondrial cristae and increased electron density of the matrix were also evident.