Luteolin exhibits anti-breast cancer property through up-regulating miR-203

Abstract

Luteolin is a representative of natural flavonoid that has anti-tumour properties. This study designed to check its impact on breast cancer and the underlying mechanisms. MDA-MB-453 and MCF-7 cells were administrated with luteolin and the following techniques were carried out: CCK-8 assay, FITC-PI double-staining and Western blot. qRT-PCR analysis was utilized to see the effects of luteolin on miR-203 expression. Besides, miR-203 expression was silenced by transfection with specific inhibitor. Luteolin remarkably declined MDA-MB-453 and MCF-7 cells viability and accelerated apoptosis which accompanied by Bax up-regulation, Bcl-2 down-regulation and Caspase-3 cleavage. Also, luteolin impeded TGFβ1-induced EMT, as evidenced by the decreased levels of Vimentin, Zeb1 and N-cadherin, as well as the increased level of E-cadherin. miR-203 was highly expressed in 22 pair of breast cancer tissues than the matched paracancerous tissues. Luteolin could elevate miR-203 level. Besides, luteolin’s anti-tumour effects were partially eliminated by miR-203 silence. Further, luteolin inhibited Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK signalling, while the inhibitory effects were flattened by miR-203 silence. Luteolin significantly reduced breast cancer cells growth and EMT. Luteolin exerted its anti-tumour effects possibly involved the elevated expression of miR-203 and the inhibited Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK signalling.

Keywords:

• MDA-MB-453 cell
• MCF-7 cell
• apoptosis
• epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)
• Ras/Raf/MEK/ERK signalling

Ethics approval and consent to participate

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. The research was encouraged by the Medical Ethics Committee of Linyi Central Hospital.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Data availability statement

The datasets used and/or analysed during this study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.