Pristimerin overcomes adriamycin resistance in breast cancer cells through suppressing Akt signaling.
Breast cancer remains a major public health problem worldwide. Chemotherapy serves an important role in the treatment of breast cancer. However, resistance to chemotherapeutic agents, in particular, multi-drug resistance (MDR), is a major cause of treatment failure in cancer. Agents that can either enhance the effects of chemotherapeutics or overcome chemoresistance are urgently needed for the treatment of breast cancer. Pristimerin, a quinonemethide triterpenoid compound isolated from Celastraceae and Hippocrateaceae, has been shown to possess antitumor, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and insecticidal properties. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether pristimerin can override chemoresistance in MCF-7/adriamycin (ADR)-resistant human breast cancer cells. The results demonstrated that pristimerin indeed displayed potent cytocidal effect on multidrug-resistant MCF-7/ADR breast cancer cells, and that these effects occurred through the suppression of Akt signaling, which in turn led to the downregulation of antiapoptotic effectors and increased apoptosis. These findings indicate that use of pristimerin may represent a potentially promising approach for the treatment of ADR-resistant breast cancer.
KingMed School of Laboratory Medicine, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510182, P.R. China.
Gui'e
G
Xie
Cancer Center, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510315, P.R. China; Traditional Chinese Medicine-Integrated Hospital, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510315, P.R. China.
Xinpei
X
Yu
Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510623, P.R. China.
Huichao
H
Liang
Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510623, P.R. China.
Jingsong
J
Chen
Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510623, P.R. China.
Xuewei
X
Tang
Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510623, P.R. China.
Shaoqing
S
Wu
Guangzhou Women and Children's Medical Center, Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510623, P.R. China.
Can
C
Liao
Akt; breast cancer; chemoresistance; pristimerin