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. 2017 Aug 27;18(8):2243-2247.
doi: 10.22034/APJCP.2017.18.8.2243.

Adjuvant Therapy with Silibinin Improves the Efficacy of Paclitaxel and Cisplatin in MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cells

Hadi Chavoshi  1 , Vahid Vahedian, Somaiyeh Saghaei, Mohammad Bagher Pirouzpanah, Mortaza Raeisi, Nasser Samadi
Affiliations

Adjuvant Therapy with Silibinin Improves the Efficacy of Paclitaxel and Cisplatin in MCF-7 Breast Cancer Cells

Hadi Chavoshi et al. Asian Pac J Cancer Prev. .

Abstract

Herbal-derived medicines have introduced as sources of novel drugs due to minimum systemic side effects. Silibinin as a flavonoid compound has showed with effective chemotherapeutic effects on different cancers. Here, we investigated the impact of combination therapy of silibinin, with paclitaxel and cisplatin in inhibition of proliferation and induction of apoptosis in MCF-7 cells. Cell proliferation was assessed by MTT assay and the percentage of apoptotic cells was measured using flowcytometric assay. Understand of molecular mechanism of this combination related to apoptotic pathway were evaluated by Real Time RT-PCR assays. The IC50 values for silibinin, paclitaxel and cisplatin were 160 ± 22.2 μM, 33.7 ± 4.2 nM and 3.2 ± 0.5 μM, respectively. Paclitaxel and cisplatin induced higher percentage of apoptosis in MCF-7 (P < 0.05). Treatment of cell line with combination of silibinin and paclitaxel or cisplatin showed enhanced early apoptosis 56% and 61%, respectively (P < 0.05). Gene expression patterns demonstrated a significant decrease in anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 with increase in pro-apoptotic Bax, P53, BRCA1 and ATM mRNA levels. Taken together combination therapy of breast cancer cells by applying paclitaxel or cisplatin with silibinin synergistically increases the anti-proliferative effect of single agents.

Keywords: Silibinin; paclitaxel; cisplatin; MCF-7; combination therapy.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Inhibition Effect of Silibinin, Cisplatin and Paclitaxel on Growth of MCF-7 (Breast Cancer Cell Line). Cells were treated with different concentrations of Silibinin, cisplatin and paclitaxel. IC50 determined for Silibinin, cisplatin and paclitaxel by MTT assay (a) (b) and (c). The results was considered as the mean ± standard deviation (n=3)*p<0.05, **p<0.01.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The Combination Therapy Induces Early Phase of Apoptosis in Cancer Cells. Cells were treated with Silibinin, cisplatin and paclitaxel in IC50 concentration including 160 µM, 3.2 µM and 33.4 nM, respectively. Flow cytometry following staining with Annexin V-FITC and PI were done on MCF-7. Data are calculated as mean ± SEM of three dependent experiments (n = 3).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Effect of Combination of Silibinin, Cisplatin and Paclitaxel in Mrna Expression Pattern of, Bcl-2, Bax, P53, BRCA1 and ATM Genes. The results was calculated as the mean ± standard deviation (n=3).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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