Silibinin-Induced Apoptosis in MCF7 and T47D Human Breast Carcinoma Cells Involves Caspase-8 Activation and Mitochondrial Pathway

Abstract

Silibinin, a natural flavonoid, under phase I/II clinical trial in prostate cancer patients was aimed to evaluate its chemotherapeutic potential in human breast cancer cell MCF7 and T47D. Results showed that T47D cells were found to be more sensitive to silibinin than MCF7 as observed by proliferation, clonogenic, and apoptotic assays, which was abrogated by pan-caspase inhibitor but remained unaffected by p53 inhibitor. Apoptotic events in both cell types differ temporally and also by magnitude that involved mitochondrial and caspase-8 activation pathway. These results have relevance in understanding silibinin treatment to breast tumor.

Keywords: :

• Silibinin
• Apoptosis
• Mitochondrial changes
• Caspase-8/-3
• DNA fragmentation

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Authors thank to Mr. Manjoor Ali for his technical help in confocal microscopy. We further extend our thanks to Dr. Mayya, Head, RP&AD to provide an opportunity to work in RPAD. Ms. Prabha Tiwari would like to thank CSIR-UGC, India, for providing the fellowship during the course of work.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of this article.