backgrounds: evidence is accumulating to support disruption of tissue architecture as a powerful event in tumor formation. for the past four decades, intensive cancer research with the premise of “cancer as a cell based-disease” focused on finding oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes. however, the role of the tissue architecture was neglected. three dimensional (3d) cell cultures which can recap...

Objective(s):Berberine, a naturally occurring isoquinoline alkaloid, has shown antitumor properties in some in vitro systems. But the effect of berberine on breast cancer has not yet been completely studied. In this study, we evaluated anticancer properties of berberine in comparison to doxorubicin. Materials and Methods: The antiproliferative effects of berberine and doxorubicin alone and in ...

Permanent cell culture lines derived from human breast cancer tissue are important experimental models in the study of human breast cancer cell proliferation. In the present work, pimozide, thioridazine, W-13, and W-12 were shown to inhibit MCF-7 human breast cancer cell growth. The 50% inhibition concentration values determined in two proliferation assays, [3H]thymidine incorporation and cell ...

Cytotoxic activity of gaillardin, a sesquiterpene lactone isolated from Inula oculus-christi L. (Asteraceae), was assessed in the human breast adenocarcinoma cell line MCF-7, human hepatocellular carcinoma cell line HepG-2, human non-small cell lung carcinoma cell line A-549, and human colon adenocarcinoma cell line HT-29, resulting in IC50 values of 6.37, 6.20, 4.76, and 1.81 microg/mL, respec...

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) (ErbB1) and HER-2/neu (ErbB2) are members of the ErbB family of receptor tyrosine kinases. These receptors are overexpressed in a variety of human tumors and overexpression generally correlates with poor prognosis and decreased survival. Lapatinib, a reversible inhibitor of both EGFR and HER-2/neu, has shown some success in achieving clinical response...

The National Cancer Institute's Developmental Therapeutics Program (DTP) maintains the screening results obtained in 60 standardized cancer cell lines for ~43,000 compounds. Here the application of the categorical structure-activity relationship (cat-SAR) program for the identification of the structural attributes of identified compounds that display differential cytostatic or cytotoxic activit...

PURPOSE In our previous studies we showed that upregulating claudin-6 (CLDN6) expression may contribute to preventing breast cancer, and that 17β-estradiol induces a concentration- and time-related effect on CLDN6 mRNA and protein expression in MCF-7 cells. However, the mechanisms of 17β-estradiol regulation of CLDN6 are still unclear. We determined the role of estrogen receptors in the regulat...

Objective(s): Nanocarriers are drug delivery vehicles, which have attracted the attention of researchers in recent years, particularly in cancer treatment. The encapsulation of anticancer drugs using protein nanocages is considered to be an optimal approach to reducing drug side-effects and increasing the bioavailability of anticancer drugs. Epirubicin (EPR) is an active chemotherapeutic medica...

Members of the bombesin-related family of peptides (BRPs) are mitogenic for a variety of cell types; however, a role for these peptides has not been previously described in human breast cancer. Early membrane receptor signal transduction mechanisms associated with bombesin action include phospholipase C-mediated inositol phospholipid hydrolysis and the elevation of cytosolic Ca2+ levels. We hav...

The MCF-7 line, derived in 1973 from a malignant pleural effusion, is one of the most commonly used culture models for human breast cancer. Despite its long history, MCF-7 is a surprisingly heterogeneous line. We previously showed that if MCF-7 cells were cultured for a prolonged period either in the absence of estrogen or in the presence of the antiestrogen tamoxifen, sub-lines were selected t...