Abstract
Objective
The aim of the study was to investigate the apoptosis induced by piperlongumine on human breast adenoma MDA-MB-231 cells and the mechanism involved.
Methods
Human breast adenoma MDA-MB-231 cells line was cultured in vitro. The inhibitory effect of piperlongumine on the proliferation of human breast adenoma MDA-MB-231 cells was measured by CCK-8 assay. Distribution of cell cycle was analyzed by flow cytometry. The apoptosis rates of MDA-MB-231 cells were measured using Annexin V/PI staining. The flow cytometry with the probe of DCFH-DA was used to detect the intracellular reactive oxygen species levels. Western blot was used to explore the protein expression of Bcl-2 and Bax.
Results
The CCK-8 assay showed that piperlongumine had an inhibiting effect on the proliferation of MDA-MB-231 cells in a concentration- and time-dependent manner. MDA-MB-231 cells were markedly arrested at G0/G1 phase after treatment of piperlongumine. Piperlongumine induced apoptosis of MDA-MB-231 cells obviously. The level of intracellular reactive oxygen species was increased in a dose-dependent manner. The antioxidant N-acetyl-L-cystein inhibited the apoptosis of cells and the level of intracellular reactive oxygen species was also decreased. By Western blot analysis, we found the expression of Bax was up-regulated whereas that of Bcl-2 was down-regulated in a concentration-dependent manner.
Conclusion
Piperlongumine possesses a significant function for inhibiting proliferation, arresting cells at G0/G1 phase and inducing apoptosis of MDA-MB-231 cells, which seems to be associated with the increased generation of intracellular reactive oxygen species as well as the down-regulation of Bcl-2 and up-regulation of Bax.
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Supported by grants from the Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions (No. JX10231801) and the Innovative Medical Team and Leading Talent of Jiangsu Province (No. LJ201123).
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Yao, Z., Yao, J., He, X. et al. Experimental study of piperlongumine inducing apoptosis of human breast adenoma MDA-MB-231 cells. Chin. -Ger. J. Clin. Oncol. 12, 319–325 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10330-013-1144-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10330-013-1144-8