the comparison of the effects of silybin and silybin-phosphatidylcholine on viability and esr expression in human breast cancer t47d cell line

objective: silybin is a polyphenol with anti-oxidant and anti-cancer properties. the poor bioavailability of some polyphenols can be improved by binding to phosphatidylcholine. in recent years, studies have been conducted to evaluate the anti-cancer effect of silybin. we studied the effect of silybin and silybin-phosphatidylcholine on esr1 and esr2 gene expression and viability in the t47d breast cancer cell line. materials and methods: in this experimental study, a 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5- diphenyltetrazolium bromide test (mtt test) was used to determine doses for cell treatment, and the gene expression was analyzed by real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (real-time rt- pcr). results: significant dose- and time-dependent cell growth inhibitory effects of silybin and silybin-phosphatidylcholine along with esr1 down-regulation were observed in t47d cells. in contrast to esr1, the t47d cell line showed negligible esr2 expression. conclusion: this study suggests that silybin and silybin-phosphatidylcholine down-regulate esr1 in er+ breast cancers. results also show that in the t47d cell line, silybinphosphatidylcholine has a much higher growth inhibitory effect and a more significant down-regulation of esr1 compared with silybin.