Quercetin Potentiates the Chemosensitivity of MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cells to 5-fluorouracil

Overview

Journal Mol Biol Rep

Specialty Molecular Biology

Date 2021 Oct 12

PMID 34637097

Citations 16

Authors

Fatemeh Mawalizadeh

Ghorban Mohammadzadeh

Azam Khedri

Mojtaba Rashidi

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Breast cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer mortality worldwide. 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) is one of the chemotherapy drugs to treat breast cancer, but it is associated with several side effects. Combination therapy is a way to increase the effectiveness of chemo drugs and decrease their usage dose. Quercetin (Quer) is one of the natural polyphenols with anti-cancer properties. This study investigated the apoptotic effect of 5-FU in combination with Quer compared with 5-FU alone on MCF-7 breast cancer cells.

Method And Results: Different single and combined concentrations of 5-FU and Quer were applied to MCF 7 cells for 48 h. Cell viability, apoptosis, gene expression of Bax, Bcl2, and p53, caspase activity, and colony number were assessed using MTT assay, flow cytometry, quantitative real-time PCR, enzyme-linked immunosorbent (ELISA), and Colony formation assay, respectively. The combination of 5-FU and Quer compared to 5-FU alone improved apoptosis by increasing the gene expression of Bax and p53 and caspase-9 activity and decreasing the Bcl2 gene expression. Colony formation in MCF-7 cells significantly decreased in the combined state compared to 5-FU alone.

Conclusion: Quer potentiates the sensitivity of breast cancer to 5-FU so that this combination may be proposed as a treatment for breast cancer. Therefore, this combination can be suggested for future in vivo studies.

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