title: Expression of mTOR and its inhibitory effect on cell proliferation and apoptosis of breast cancer cells.
abstract: The aim of this study is to investigate the expression of mTOR in breast cancer and observe the effect of CCI-779 on proliferation and apoptosis of MDA-MB-231 cells. Immunohistochemical staining was used to detect the expression of mTOR protein in breast cancer tissues and MDA-MB-231 cells. MTT assay was used to assess the effect of CCI-779 on proliferation of MDA-MB-231 cells. Annex-inV-FITC/ PI assay was utilized to evaluate the effect of CCI-779 on apoptosis of MDA-MB-231 cells. Among the 71 cases of breast cancer tissues, 54.9% were mTOR-positive that exhibited significantly higher expression than the 32 cases of normal tissues (21.9%); mTOR protein was also found to be expressed in MDA-MB-231 cells. The mTOR inhibitor CCI-779 significantly inhibited the proliferation of MDA-MB-231 cells that was dose- and time-dependent. However, CCI-779 was unable to induce apoptosis of MDA-MB-231 cells as demonstrated with AnnexinV-FITC/PI assay. mTOR plays a key role in the initiation and development of breast cancer, and its inhibitor CCI-779 exerts a strong suppressive activity against MDA-MB-231 cells, suggesting its therapeutic potential to treat breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: Surgery Department of Galactophore, The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of TCM, Zhengzhou City, Henan Province, China.
authors.forename: X F
authors.initials: XF
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Scientific Bureau, Henan University of TCM, Zhengzhou City, China.
authors.forename: Q
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine, Henan Cancer Hospital, Zhengzhou City, Henan Province, China.
authors.forename: X F
authors.initials: XF
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Surgery Department of Galactophore, The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of TCM, Zhengzhou City, Henan Province, China.
authors.forename: H D
authors.initials: HD
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Surgery Department of Galactophore, The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of TCM, Zhengzhou City, Henan Province, China.
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Surgery Department of Galactophore, The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of TCM, Zhengzhou City, Henan Province, China.
authors.forename: A J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Chu
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology*; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020123:Sirolimus / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D058570:TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000032:analysis / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: C401859:temsirolimus; C546842:MTOR protein, human; D058570:TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases; D020123:Sirolimus