title: Low-dose epirubicin inhibits ezrin-mediated metastatic behavior of breast cancer cells.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Overexpression of ezrin contributes to the progression and invasiveness of several human cancers; however, its role in breast cancer metastasis has not been investigated in detail.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ezrin expression in tissue samples from patients with invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast was detected by immunohistochemistry. Ezrin expression in a breast cancer cell line was evaluated using Western blot and RT-PCR.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Elevated expression of ezrin was associated with lymph node metastasis and poor prognosis in patients with invasive ductal carcinoma. Ezrin expression was related to the invasiveness of breast cancer cells in vitro. Low-dose epirubicin inhibited the migration of breast cancer cells in a concentration-dependent manner without promoting cytotoxicity in vitro and decreased the expression of ezrin in a concentration-dependent manner.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Low-dose epirubicin may be antimetastatic without promoting cytotoxic effects and could serve as a target for the development of therapeutics for breast carcinoma.
authors.affiliation: Breast Cancer Institute of the Fourth Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, PR China.
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Yue-Ping
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Cui-Zhi
authors.initials: CZ
authors.lastname: Geng
authors.forename: Ling-Xiao
authors.initials: LX
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.forename: Xiang-Hong
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000903:Antibiotics, Antineoplastic / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015153:Blotting, Western; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000187:drug effects; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D018450:Disease Progression; D015251:Epirubicin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015854:Up-Regulation; D000099149:Ezrin
chemical_list: D000903:Antibiotics, Antineoplastic; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D015251:Epirubicin; D000099149:Ezrin