ABSTRACT
Breast cancer is the second leading cause of cancer-related death among females in the world. To date, chemotherapy has been the most frequently used treatment for breast cancer and other cancers. However, some natural products have been used, as alternative treatments for cancers including breast cancer, due to their wide range of biological activities and low toxicity in animal models. The present study examined the anti-proliferative activity of curcumin and its effect[s] on the apoptosis of breast cancer cells. This study was performed by an in vitro assay and the anticancer effects of curcumin were determined by MTT [3-[4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl]-2,5 diphenyl tetrazolium bromide]. We used quantitative real time Polymerase Chain Reaction [PCR] for detection of Mcl-1 gene expression in treated groups and then compared them to control samples. In the treatment group, there were higher levels of cell death changes than the control group. The results also showed that the Mcl-1 gene expression declined in the tested group as compared to the control group. Our present findings indicated that curcumin significantly inhibited the growth of human breast cancer cell MCF-7 by inducing apoptosis in a dose- and time- dependent manner, accompanied by a decrease in MCF-7 cell viability. Furthermore, our results showed that quantitative real-time PCR could be used as a direct method for detection Mcl-1 gene expression in tested samples and normal samples
ABSTRACT
3,4- Methylenedioxymethamphetamine [MDMA or "Ecstasy"] is a psychoactive and hallucinogenic drug of abuse. MDMA has been shown to produce neurotoxicity both in animals and humans. Recently, the vasodilator drugs such as pentoxifylline is one of the new strategies which have been considered as neuroprotector. In this study effect of pentoxifylline on bcl-2 gene expression changes in hippocampus of rat following long- term use of ecstasy was investigated. 30 male Wistar rats weighing 250-300g were randomly divided into 5 groups: control [normal], sham [MDMA injection], experimental 1[MDMA and then PTX injections], experimental 2[PTX injection and after 1 week, MDMA injection] and vehicle [saline injection] groups. All drugs were injected intraperitoneally. Two weeks later, the hippocampi were removed for studying the changes in bcl-2 gene expression. We used quantitative real time PCR for detection of bcl-2 gene expression in treated groups and then compared them to control samples. The results showed the gene dosage ratio of 0.49, 0.78 and 1.17 for sham, experimental 1 and experimental 2 groups, respectively. The results also showed the bcl-2gene expression declined in sham group as compared to the experimental groups. Furthermore, we observed a significant difference in the bcl-2 gene expression between sham and experimental 2 groups. We conclude that quantitative real time PCR could be used as a direct method for the detection of bcl-2 gene expression in tested and normal samples