Document Type
Article
Source of Publication
Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention
Publication Date
1-1-2013
Abstract
Phytochemicals are among the natural chemopreventive agents with most potential for delaying, blocking or reversing the initiation and promotional events of carcinogenesis. They therefore offer cancer treatment strategies to reduce cancer related death. One such promising chemopreventive agent which has attracted considerable attention is sulforaphane (SFN), which exhibits anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, and anti-microbial properties. The present study was undertaken to assess effect of SFN alone and in combination with a chemotherapeutic agent, gemcitabine, on the proliferative potential of MCF-7 cells by cell viability assay and authenticated the results by nuclear morphological examination. Further we analyzed the modulation of expression of Bcl-2 and COX-2 on treatment of these cells with SFN by RT-PCR. SFN showed cytotoxic effects on MCF-7 cells in a dose- and time-dependent manner via an apoptotic mode of cell death. In addition, a combinational treatment of SFN and gemcitabine on MCF-7 cells resulted in growth inhibition in a synergistic manner with a combination index (CI)<1. Notably, SFN was found to significantly downregulate the expression of Bcl-2, an anti-apoptotic gene, and COX-2, a gene involved in inflammation, in a time-dependent manner. These results indicate that SFN induces apoptosis and anti-inflammatory effects on MCF-7 cells via downregulation of Bcl-2 and COX-2 respectively. The combination of SFN and gemcitabine may potentiate the efficacy of gemcitabine and minimize the toxicity to normal cells. Taken together, SFN may be a potent anti-cancer agent for breast cancer treatment.
DOI Link
ISSN
Publisher
Asian Pacific Organization for Cancer Prevention
Volume
14
Issue
10
First Page
5855
Last Page
5860
Disciplines
Medicine and Health Sciences
Keywords
Apoptosis, Breast cancer, Chemoprevention, Gemcitabine, Sulforaphane
Scopus ID
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Hussain, Arif; Mohsin, Javeria; Prabhu, Sathyen Alwin; Begum, Salema; Nusri, Qurrat El Ain; Harish, Geetganga; Javed, Elham; Khan, Munawwar Ali; and Sharma, Chhavi, "Sulforaphane inhibits growth of human breast cancer cells and augments the therapeutic index of the chemotherapeutic drug, gemcitabine" (2013). All Works. 3251.
https://zuscholars.zu.ac.ae/works/3251
Indexed in Scopus
yes
Open Access
yes
Open Access Type
Gold: This publication is openly available in an open access journal/series