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Quercetin potentiates the chemosensitivity of MCF-7 breast cancer cells to 5-fluorouracil

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Abstract

Background

Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer mortality worldwide. 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is one of the chemotherapy drugs to treat breast cancer, but it is associated with several side effects. Combination therapy is a way to increase the effectiveness of chemo drugs and decrease their usage dose. Quercetin (Quer) is one of the natural polyphenols with anti-cancer properties. This study investigated the apoptotic effect of 5-FU in combination with Quer compared with 5-FU alone on MCF-7 breast cancer cells.

Method and results

Different single and combined concentrations of 5-FU and Quer were applied to MCF 7 cells for 48 h. Cell viability, apoptosis, gene expression of Bax, Bcl2, and p53, caspase activity, and colony number were assessed using MTT assay, flow cytometry, quantitative real-time PCR, enzyme-linked immunosorbent (ELISA), and Colony formation assay, respectively. The combination of 5-FU and Quer compared to 5-FU alone improved apoptosis by increasing the gene expression of Bax and p53 and caspase-9 activity and decreasing the Bcl2 gene expression. Colony formation in MCF-7 cells significantly decreased in the combined state compared to 5-FU alone.

Conclusion

Quer potentiates the sensitivity of breast cancer to 5-FU so that this combination may be proposed as a treatment for breast cancer. Therefore, this combination can be suggested for future in vivo studies.

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Acknowledgements

The research was financially supported by the Cellular and Molecular Research Center of Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran (Grant No. CMRC - 9810). This paper was extracted from Msc thesis of fatemeh mawalizadeh.

Funding

The research was financially supported by the Cellular and Molecular Research Center of Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran. The results described in this paper were part of student thesis (Grant No. CMRC - 9907).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Medical Basic Sciences Research Institute, Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran

    Fatemeh Mawalizadeh & Mojtaba Rashidi

  2. Hyperlipidemia Research Center, Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran

    Ghorban Mohammadzadeh

  3. Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran

    Azam Khedri

Authors
  1. Fatemeh Mawalizadeh
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  2. Ghorban Mohammadzadeh
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  3. Azam Khedri
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  4. Mojtaba Rashidi
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Contributions

Dr. MR: made substantial contributions to the conception and design of the work. Dr. GM: drafted the work and revised it. Dr. AK: analysis, interpretation of data. FM: the acquisition, analysis, interpretation of data.

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Correspondence to Mojtaba Rashidi.

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Mawalizadeh, F., Mohammadzadeh, G., Khedri, A. et al. Quercetin potentiates the chemosensitivity of MCF-7 breast cancer cells to 5-fluorouracil. Mol Biol Rep 48, 7733–7742 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11033-021-06782-3

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