BACKGROUND The existing evidence that nanobacteria (NB) are closely associated with human disease is overwhelming. However, their potential toxicity against cancer cells has not yet been reported. The objective of this study was to investigate the cytotoxic effects of NB and nanohydroxyapatites (nHAPs) against human breast cancer cells and to elucidate the mechanisms of action underlying their ...

background: tumour suppressor genes such as tp53, brca1 and rad51 are involved in dna repair and their malfunctions result in genomic instability and cancer. wild type (wt) tp53 binds to brca1and rad51 in vivo and in vitro. however, mutated tp53 in tumours can interfere with wt tp53 function. we studied how mutation of tp53 in mda-mb-468 cell line could affect its binding capacity and interfere...

Breast cancer accounts for one third of new cancer cases among women. The need for biomarkers for early detection is the stimulus to researchers to evaluate altered expression of genes in tumours. Cancer-testis (CT) genes are a group with limited expression in normal tissues except testis but up-regulation in a wide variety of cancers. We here evaluated expression of two CT genes named FBXO39 a...

Docetaxel is commonly used as an effective chemotherapeutic agent in breast cancer treatment, but the underlying mechanisms of drug resistance are not fully understood. The purpose of this study was to investigate the possible role of miR-129-3p in breast cancer cell resistance to docetaxel. MiR-129 and miR-129-3p inhibitor were transfected into breast cancer cells to investigate their effects ...

Withaferin A (WA), a promising anticancer constituent of Ayurvedic medicinal plant Withania somnifera, inhibits growth of MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 human breast cancer cells in culture and MDA-MB-231 xenografts in vivo in association with apoptosis induction, but the mechanism of cell death is not fully understood. We now demonstrate, for the first time, that WA-induced apoptosis is mediated by reac...

BACKGROUND Acquired radioresistance of cancer cells remains a fundamental barrier to attaining the maximal efficacy of radiotherapy for the treatment of breast cancer. Anti-apoptotic proteins, such as Bcl-2 and Bcl-xL, play an important role in the radioresistance of cancer cells. In the present study, we aimed to determine if ABT-737, a BH3-only mimic, could reverse the acquired radioresistanc...

Baicalein was investigated for tumor cell-specific cytotoxicity, apoptosis-inducing activity and signal pathway against the MDA-MB-231 human breast cancer cell line. After the MDA-MB-231 cells had been treated with baicalein, trypan blue exclusion, propidium iodide (PI) assay and 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) were used to stain the dead cells and detect apoptosis, respectively. The effec...

BACKGROUND Semaphorin 4D (Sema4D) is highly expressed in certain types of tumors and functions in the regulation of tumor angiogenesis and growth. However, it is still not clear regarding the roles of Sema4D in breast cancer. This study was designed to explore the effects of Sema4D on proliferation, cell cycle progression, apoptosis, invasion, migration, tumor growth, and angiogenesis in breast...

Hypoxia-induced chemoresistance (HICR) is a well-recognized phenomenon, and in many experimental models, hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) is believed to be a key player. We aimed to better understand the mechanism underlying HICR in a triple negative breast cancer cell line, MDA-MB-231, with a focus on the role of HIF-1α. In this context, the effect of hypoxia on the sensitivity of MDA-MB-2...

Emerging evidence suggests that the adenosine (Ado) receptors may play crucial roles in tumor progression. Here, we show that Ado increases proliferation and migration in a triple negative breast cancer model, the MDA-MB 231 cell line. The use of specific agonists and antagonists evidenced that these effects depend on the activation of the A2B receptor, which then triggers an intracellular resp...