ABSTRACT
To investigate the effect of notoginsenoside Ft1(Ft1) on proliferation, migration and apoptosis of breast cancer cells, we conducted several assays including CCK-8 assay, EdU staining, single cell migration assay and Hoechst 33258 staining. The effect of Ft1 on expression of apoptosis related proteins, HIF-1α, PI3K/Akt/mTOR/p70S6K and MAPK pathways was examined with Western blot. Ft1 could significantly reduce cell survival and inhibit cell proliferation in breast cancer cells in a dose-dependent manner. Ft1 also increased chromatin condensation of MDA-MB-231 cells. Furthermore, Ft1 decreased protein expression of Bcl-2 and HIF-1α and increased expression of cleaved caspase 3 in MDA-MB-231 cells after 12 h treatment. Ft1 significantly down-regulated the levels of p-Akt, p-mTOR and p-p70S6K as well as p-ERK1/2, but up-regulated that of p-JNK. Ft1 significantly inhibited the level of p-EGFR (Tyr1068) and p-EGFR (Ser1046/1047) in MDA-MB-231 cells. Finally, Ft1 significantly inhibited the migration path length and velocity of HS578T cells when used at the concentration without affecting cell viability. Thus, Ft1 exhibited multiple antitumor effects including inhibition of cell survival and migration, promotion of cell apoptosis in breast cancer cells. Suppression of HIF-1α via Akt/mTOR/p70S6K and MAPK pathways may be involved in the pharmacological effect of Ft1 on cell proliferation and apoptosis of breast cancer cells.