Metformin induced apoptosis in breast cancer cell by decreasing the expression of Foxp3 / 重庆医学

ABSTRACT

Objective To research the effects of metformin on proliferation and apoptosis in human breast cancer MCF-7 cells and investigate the role of Foxp3 in the effect.Methods The inhibit rate of MCF-7 cells was measured by MTT assay after 48 h metformin treatment(5 mmol/L、10 mmol/L、20 mmol/L).Metformin-induced cell apoptosis was measured by Hoechst 33258 stai-ning and flow cytometry.The expression levels of Foxp3 and caspase-3 mRNA were detected by real-time PCR.Expression of Foxp3 protein was detected by Western blot.Results Metformin markedly inhibited proliferation of MCF-7(P<0.05)compared with control group.And the early apoptotic rates increased to 3.76%,8.96%,and 18.67% with 5 mmol/L、10 mmol/L、20 mmol/L metformin treatment,respectively.Metformin increased caspase-3 mRNA expression levels,and decreased the expression levels of Foxp3 mRNA and protein expression levels(P<0.05,vs.control).Conclusion Metformin could inhibit the proliferation and in-duce apoptosis of MCF-7,and its mechanism maybe related to down-regulated expression of Foxp3.