Journal
CANCER PREVENTION RESEARCH
Volume 4, Issue 7, Pages 1107-1117Publisher
AMER ASSOC CANCER RESEARCH
DOI: 10.1158/1940-6207.CAPR-10-0306
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- National Cancer Institute [RO1 CA129347-04, RO1 CA142604-01]
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We showed previously that cruciferous vegetable constituent benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC) inhibits growth of cultured and xenografted human breast cancer cells and suppresses mammary cancer development in a transgenic mouse model. We now show, for the first time, that BITC inhibits epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in human breast cancer cells. Exposure of estrogen-independent MDA-MB-231 and estrogen-responsive MCF-7 human breast cancer cell lines and a pancreatic cancer cell line (PL-45) to BITC resulted in upregulation of epithelial markers (e. g., E-cadherin and/or occludin) with a concomitant decrease in protein levels of mesenchymal markers, including vimentin, fibronectin, snail, and/or c-Met. The BITC-mediated induction of E-cadherin protein was accompanied by an increase in its transcription, whereas BITC-treated MDA-MB-231 cells exhibited suppression of vimentin, snail, and slug mRNA levels. Experimental EMT induced by exposure to TGF beta and TNF alpha or Rb knockdown in a spontaneously immortalized nontumorigenic human mammary epithelial cell line (MCF-10A) was also partially reversed by BITC treatment. The TGF beta-/TNF alpha-induced migration of MCF-10A cells was inhibited in the presence of BITC, which was partially attenuated by RNA interference of E-cadherin. Inhibition of MDA-MB-231 xenograft growth in vivo in female athymic mice by BITC administration was associated with an increase in protein level of E-cadherin and suppression of vimentin and fibronectin protein expression. In conclusion, this study reports a novel anticancer effect of BITC involving inhibition of EMT, a process triggered during progression of cancer to invasive state. Cancer Prev Res; 4(7); 1107-17. (C)2011 AACR.
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