Impacts of berberine on the growth, migration and radiosensitivity of breast cancer cells

Objective To study the impacts of berberine on the growth, migration and radiosensitivity in human breast cancer cells.Methods MTT assay was used to evaluate cell growth.In vitro scratch migration assay was used to determine cell migration.Annexin V assay was used to detect cell apoptosis.The distribution of cell cycle was evaluated by flow cytometry assay.Colony formation assay was used to detect the influence of berberine on cell radiosensitivity. Western blot assay was employed to measure protein expression.Results Berberine inhibited cell growth and migration in two human breast cancer cell lines, MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231, in a dose-and time-dependent manner. Furthermore,berberine resulted in a cell cycle G0/G1 arrest.Compared with control,the early apoptosis in MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells treated with 40 pμmol/L of berberine was as high as 86.6％ and 66.6％ (t =8.79,10.32,P ＜ 0.01 ),respectively. Berberine caused a dose-dependent increase in Bax and Caspase-3 protein expressions,but did not change Cyclin D1 protein expression,while suppressed the expressions of Cyclin B1 and Bcl-2 protein. As analyzed with multi-target click model fitting curves,the SERD0 of berberine-treated cells were 1.12 and 1.22 for MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7cells respectively at the dose D0 of X-rays.Conclusions The berberine inhibited the growth and migration of breast cancer cells via apoptosis induction and cell cycle arrest.Moreover,berberine increases cell sensitivity to X-ray irradiation. Key words: Berberine;  Human breast cancer;  Cell growth ;  Cell migration;  Radiosensitivity