title: Identification of a potent herbal molecule for the treatment of breast cancer.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Breast cancer (BCa)-related mortality still remains the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Patients with BCa have increasingly shown resistance and high toxicity to current chemotherapeutic drugs for which identification of novel targeted therapies are required.
  
  
  METHODS
  To determine the effect of PDBD on BCa cells, estrogen-receptor positive (ER+)-MCF-7 and estrogen-receptor negative (ER-)-MDA 231 cells were treated with PDBD and the cell viability, apoptotic, cell cycle, Western blot and Promoter assays were performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  PDBD inhibits cell viability of ER+ and ER- BCa cells by inducing apoptosis without causing significant toxicity in normal breast epithelial cells. While dissecting the mechanism of action of PDBD on BCa, we found that PDBD inhibits Akt signaling and its downstream targets such as NF-kappaB activation, IAP proteins and Bcl-2 expression. On the other hand, activation of JNK/p38 MAPK-mediated pro-apoptotic signaling was observed in both ER+ and ER- BCa cells.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings suggest that PDBD may have wide therapeutic application in the treatment of BCa.
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536, USA. srinivas.koduru@uky.edu
authors.forename: Srinivas
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Koduru
authors.forename: Srinivasan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sowmyalakshmi
authors.forename: Raj
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: Rohini
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Gomathinayagam
authors.forename: Jürgen
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Rohr
authors.forename: Chendil
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Damodaran
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000737:chemistry / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010946:Plants, Medicinal / Q000737:chemistry; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D010936:Plant Extracts; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen