Psoralen reverses glutathione-S-transferaseπ-mediated multidrug resistance in breast cancer stem cells / 中国组织工程研究

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND:Breast cancer stem cells not only lead to theoccurrence of breast cancer, but also may cause breast cancer metastasis and recurrence. The relationship between stem cells and cell resistance is also gaining increasing attentions, and the focus on the stem cell treatment may result in unexpected results.OBJECTIVE:To explore the reversal effect of psoralen on glutathione-S-transferase π (GST-π) in human breast cancer MCF-7/ADR cells and its mechanism.METHODS:MCF-7/ADR cells were cultured and enriched in serum-free medium to obtain breast cancer stem cells.RT-PCR and western blot were used to detect the expression of GST-π at the levels of gene and protein in the MCF-7/ADR cells after treatment with 0, 4, 8, 12, 16 mg/L psoralen. To observe the activation of nuclear factor-κB,western blot was used. The expression of GST-π was detected by RT-PCR in 18 μmol/L SN50 group and 8 mg/L psoralen group. Cell counting kit-8 assay was used to detect the effect of doxorubicin on cell proliferation.RESULTS AND CONCLUSION:Compared with the control group, psoralen reduced the expression of GST-π at the mRNA and protein levels, and significantly inhibited the activation of nuclear factor-κB. It was suggested that psoralen could reverse the multidrug resistance of human breast cancer MCF-7/ADR stem cells by decreasing the expression level of GST-π. The mechanism may be achieved by inhibiting the nuclear factor-κB signal pathway.