RESUMO
[ ABSTRACT] AIM:To investigate the effects of c-Met on the proliferation and the sensitivity to chemotherapeutic drugs of triple negative breast cancer cells.METHODS: Doxorubicin-resistant cells ( MDA-MB-231/ADR) were estab-lished.The expression of c-Met at mRNA and protein levels in the MDA-MB-231/ADR cells and parental MDA-MB-231 cells was detected by real-time PCR and Western blotting.c-Met siRNA and plasmid or AKT siRNA were transfected into the cancer cells.The cell proliferation and the sensitivity to doxorubicin were determined by MTT assay.RESULTS:The expression of c-Met at mRNA and protein levels in MDA-MB-231/ADR cells was significantly higher than that in parental MDA-MB-231 cells.Transfection with pBABE-puro TPR-MET plasmid into the MDA-MB-231 cells induced cell prolifera-tion and resistance to doxorubicin.Meanwhile, inhibition of c-Met in the MDA-MB-231/ADR cells by siRNA reversed the doxorubicin-resistance.In addition, over-expression of c-Met led to higher phosphorylation level of AKT, which was in-volved in the effects of c-Met on the MDA-MB-231 cell proliferation and doxorubicin-resistance.CONCLUSION: c-Met may have the potential as a therapeutic target in the treatment of triple negative breast cancer.