Fangchinoline Inhibits Cell Proliferation Via Akt/GSK-3beta/cyclinD1 Signaling in Breast Cancer Cells

Despite the considerable progress in both the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, the disease remains the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths among women. Drug therapies directed at the estrogen receptor, the progesterone receptor, and human epidermal growth factor 2 receptor (HER2/neu) have resulted in improved clinical outcomes in some breast cancers. However, it is still a formidable challenge to treat those tumors that do not express the aforementioned molecular targets (Sorlie et al., 2001; Sørlie et al., 2003; Schneider et al., 2008). Fangchinoline (Fan) is a bis-benzylisoquinoline alkaloid, extracted from the Chinese medicinal herb Radix Stephania tetrandrae, dry roots of Stephaniae tetrandrine S. Moore (Menispermaceae). Fan shares structural features with tetrandrine, another functional compound extracted from Radix Stephania tetrandrae. Tetrandrine has been shown to be a potent calcium channel blocker and demonstrates anti-tumour activity in various cancer cells (King et al., 1988). Hsu et al reported that tetrandrine