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Effects and mechanism of flavonoids from Astragalus complanatus on breast cancer growth

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Abstract

Flavonoids from Astragalus complanatus R.Br (FAC) had anticancer effects on many tumor cells. The current study was performed to evaluate the effects of FAC on human breast cell proliferation, apoptosis, and metastasis, as well as their active mechanism. Cell viability and growth were detected using the cell counting kit (CCK)-8 assay in vitro. Assay of FAC on induced breast cancer mortality was counted as survival time of nude mice after breast cell line inoculation. The effect of FAC on cell invasion was investigated by an optimization assay that contains a 96-well Boyden chamber with wells precoated with BME at three different concentrations. The mechanism of its action on apoptosis and metastasis was determined by related gene detection. Proliferation of three breast cell lines was inhibited with FAC treatment in a dose-dependent manner. Survival time of nude mice with breast cancer cell inoculation also was prolonged with increasing FAC dose. Metastasis in FAC-treated breast cells was also significantly inhibited. Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay demonstrated that apoptosis-related BCL-2 and caspase-9 gene expression was consistent with their phenotype change. Metastasis-related FAK and BRCA1 gene expression was inversely related to FAC treatment. Western blot analysis indicated that BCL-2 and FAK proteins were reduced, whereas caspase-9 and BRCA1 proteins were increased with a higher dose of FAC treatment. These data suggested that FAC has an important role in breast cancer growth and metastasis suppression in vitro and in vivo. Its active mechanism involves promoting programmed cancer cell death and regulates metastasis-related gene expression.

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Abbreviations

SAC:

Semen Astragalus complanatus

FAC:

Flavonoids from Astragalus complanatus R.Br

FAK:

Focal adhesion kinase

TCM:

Traditional Chinese medicine

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Authors’ contributions

TJY is the corresponding author and organized the study. TJY and JHZ participated in its design and experiments and drafted the manuscript. JHZ, HZ, ZZZ, QZ, SKM, and ZC performed experiments and analyzed the data. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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All applicable international, national, and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oncology Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu, 233004, China

    Jinhai Zhu, Hui Zhang, Zhengzhi Zhu, Xiaokai Ma, Zhen Cui & Tingjing Yao

  2. Department of Clinical Pathology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical College, Bengbu, 233004, China

    Qiong Zhang

Authors
  1. Jinhai Zhu
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  2. Hui Zhang
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Correspondence to Tingjing Yao.

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Supplementary Figure S1

Relative BCL-2 expression in the experimental groups, normalized to GAPDH. **p < 0.01 vs control. (DOCX 172 kb)

Supplementary Figure S2

Relative BRCA1 expression in the experimental groups, normalized to GAPDH. **p < 0.01 vs control. (DOCX 160 kb)

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Zhu, J., Zhang, H., Zhu, Z. et al. Effects and mechanism of flavonoids from Astragalus complanatus on breast cancer growth. Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch Pharmacol 388, 965–972 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00210-015-1127-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00210-015-1127-0

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