Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2021 Dec;48(12):7733-7742.
doi: 10.1007/s11033-021-06782-3. Epub 2021 Oct 12.

Quercetin potentiates the chemosensitivity of MCF-7 breast cancer cells to 5-fluorouracil

Fatemeh Mawalizadeh  1 , Ghorban Mohammadzadeh  2 , Azam Khedri  3 , Mojtaba Rashidi  4
Affiliations

Quercetin potentiates the chemosensitivity of MCF-7 breast cancer cells to 5-fluorouracil

Fatemeh Mawalizadeh et al. Mol Biol Rep. 2021 Dec.

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.

Keywords: 5-Fluorouracil; Breast cancer; Chemosensitivity; Potentiate; Quercetin.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Elmadany N, Khalil E, Vaccari L, Birarda G, Yousef I, Abu-Dahab R (2018) Antiproliferative activity of the combination of doxorubicin/quercetin on MCF7 breast cancer cell line: a combined study using colorimetric assay and synchrotron infrared microspectroscopy. Infrared Phys Technol 95:141–147
    1. Kawabata R, Oie S, Takahashi M, Kanayama H, Oka T, Itoh K (2011) Up-regulation of insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 3 by 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) leads to the potent anti-proliferative effect of androgen deprivation therapy combined with 5-FU in human prostate cancer cell lines. Int J Oncol 38:1489–1500 - PubMed
    1. Zhang D, Liu X, Gao J et al (2017) The role of epithelial cell adhesion molecule N-glycosylation on apoptosis in breast cancer cells. Tumor Biol 39:1010428317695973
    1. Ponce-Cusi R, Calaf GM (2016) Apoptotic activity of 5-fluorouracil in breast cancer cells transformed by low doses of ionizing α-particle radiation. Int J Oncol 48:774–782 - PubMed
    1. Castillo RR, Colilla M, Vallet-Regí M (2017) Advances in mesoporous silica-based nanocarriers for co-delivery and combination therapy against cancer. Expert Opin Drug Deliv 14:229–243 - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources