Abstract:

Objective

To investigate the effect of ellagic acid on proliferation and invasion and metastasis of breast cancer cells MDA-MB-231.

Methods

The MDA-MB-231 cells were cultured and treated with 0(control group),6,12 μg/ml ellagic acid respectively, then the cells were counted at 24,48,72 h after culture. Chemotaxis experiment and Western Blot were conducted to observe the effects of ellagic acid on chemotaxic movement of MDA-MB-231 cells and SDF-1α signaling pathway activation. The data were analyzed using repeated measurement analysis of variance, and pairwise comparison was performed using the SNK-q analysis.

Results

Compared with the control group, cell counts in 6,12 μg/ml ellagic acid treatment groups were significantly reduced at 24, 48, 72 h. Repeated measurement analysis of variance indicated that the comparison between groups(F=4875.56, P=0.00) and among the three time points(F=670.727, P=0.00)showed a statistically significant difference and the interaction existed between group and time(F=122.92, P=0.00). It showed that ellagic acid can significantly inhibit the proliferation of breast cancer cells MDA-MB-231. Chemotaxis experiment of breast cancer cells showed that chemotaxic cells were (14.00±1.00)×10⁵/ml,(7.70±0.58)×10⁵/ml, (3.00±1.00)×10⁵/ml in each group respectively, and the difference was statistically significant (F=117.57,P=0.00 ). Western Blot result showed that ellagic acid significantly inhibited CXCR4 expression and activation of AKT signaling pathway by SDF1α/CXCR4 in breast cancer cells.

Conclusion

Ellagic acid can inhibit the proliferation and SDF1α/CXCR4 mediated chemotaxic movement of breast cancer cells MDA-MB-231 and regress the activation of SDF1α/CXCR4 signaling pathway, which may have potential value in the prevention of breast cancer recurrence and metastasis.

Key words: Ellagic acid, Breast neoplasms, Receptors, CXCR4