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Selenocystine-induced cell apoptosis and S-phase arrest inhibit human triple-negative breast cancer cell proliferation

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Abstract

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive subtype of breast cancer with limited effective treatment options. New therapeutic approaches are urgently needed to improve the prognosis of TNBC. Here we demonstrated that a redox modulator, selenocystine (SeC), significantly inhibits TNBC cell proliferation in a dose- and time-dependent manner. Through cell apoptosis assays and cell cycle distribution analyses, we have shown that the in vitro inhibitory effect of SeC on TNBC cells can be attributed to the induction of apoptosis and the S-phase arrest in a dose-dependent manner. Therefore, this finding implies that SeC potentially is a novel therapeutic agent for TNBC.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Prof. Musheng Zeng for providing the human TNBC cell lines and Prof. Tianfeng Chen for providing the SeC. This research was supported by the Female Tumor Drugs Research Foundation of Guangdong Pharmaceutical Association (No. 2014D09).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Breast Cancer Center, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, 600 Tianhe Road, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510630, China

    Meijun Long, Juekun Wu, Junwen Hao, Wei Liu, Yong Tang, Xi Li & Wanshou Qiu

  2. Department of Gland Surgery, Guangzhou Panyu Central Hospital, 8 Fuyudong Road, Qiaonan Street, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 511400, China

    Junwen Hao

  3. Department of Breast Surgery, Guangzhou Red Cross Hospital, 396 Tongfuzhong Road, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510220, China

    Wei Liu

  4. Department of General Surgery, Changsha Central Hospital, 161 Shaoshannan Road, Changsha, Hunan, 410004, China

    Yong Tang

  5. Department of Radiation Oncology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, 8403 Floyd Curl Drive, San Antonio, TX, 78229, USA

    Hang Su

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  1. Meijun Long
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Correspondence to Wanshou Qiu.

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Editor: Tetsuji Okamoto

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Long, M., Wu, J., Hao, J. et al. Selenocystine-induced cell apoptosis and S-phase arrest inhibit human triple-negative breast cancer cell proliferation. In Vitro Cell.Dev.Biol.-Animal 51, 1077–1084 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11626-015-9937-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11626-015-9937-4

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