Inhibitory effect of artesunate on the growth of breast cancer cells and its mechanism / 解放军医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the function of artesunate on the growth of breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 and its potential mechanism. Methods CCK-8 assays were used to measure growth inhibition in breast cancer cells (MDA-MB-231) in the presence of artesunate, the IC50 was calculated. Based on the IC50 values, various artesunate concentrations (0, 25, 50, 100 μg/ml) were used to experiments in this paper. 0 μg/ml artesunate group served as the control group, using normal saline instead of the artesunate. Apoptosis and mitochondrial membrane potential were analyzed by flow cytometry, after the treatment of various artesunate concentrations (0, 25, 50, 100 μg/ml) for 24 hours. Migration and invasion of the MDA-MB-231 cells were evaluated using wound healing and Transwell assays, respectively, after the treatment of various artesunate concentrations (0, 25 μg/ml) for 24 hours. Results Artesunate inhibited the growth of MDA-MB-231 cells in a dose-dependent manner, with IC50 values for MDA-MB-231 of 54.24 μg/ml. Compared to mock-treated cells, artesunate significantly increased apoptosis, while the mitochondrial membrane potential was significantly decreased after 24 h of exposure to different concentrations of artesunate (P<0.01), in a dose-dependent manner. The cell migration and invasion abilities were also lower in the 25 μg/ml artesunate treated cells than these abilities in the mock-treated cells. Conclusions Artesunate could inhibit the growth of MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells and inhibit its invasion and migration ability by inducing apoptosis and decreasing mitochondrial membrane potential.