Effect Of Berberine On Proliferation And Apoptosis Of MCF-7cells

Objective: Berberine is an isoquinoline quaternary alkaloid from many kinds of medicinal plants.Berberine has antioxidant effects and multiple pharmacological prioerties.Recently,in vitro studies using cancer cell lines have shown that berberine inhibits cancer cell proliferation and migration and induces apoptosis in a variety of cancer cell lines.The study aims at investigating the effect and mechanisms of the Berberine on the human breast adenocarcinoma cell line MCF-7.Methods: MTT method was used to evaluate the proliferation effect of MCF-7 and the percentage of apoptotic cells were determined by flow cytometric analysis. The expression of JAK2, p-JAK2, p-STAT3, STAT3, Bax, Bcl-2, cleavage-PARP and cleavage-Caspase3 were detected by Western blotting.Results:1.After treated with various concentrations of berberine,the proliferation changes of MCF-7 cell were evaluated by the MTT assay.The results showed that he proliferations of MCF-7 cells were inhibited by berberine in a dose-dependent manner.2.Apoptosis of MCF-7 cell lines was detected by flow cytometric analysis.The results demonstrated that berberine induced the cell death of MCF-7 cells.The percentage of apoptitic cells increased with he increase in berberine concentration.The results showed that berberine induced the apoptosis of MCF-7 cells.3.Changes on the expression of bcl-2 protein family members including bcl-2 and bax were detected by Western blotting.The results showed that the expression of bas was up-regulated and the expression of bcl-2 was down-regulated following treatmeng with berberiine.4 Changes on the expression of cleavage-PARP and cleavage-Caspase3 were detectedby Western blotting.The results showed that the expression of cleavage-PARP and cleavage-Caspase3 was up-regulated.5. Changes on the expression of cleavage-PARP and p-JAK2, p-STAT3 by Western blotting.The results showed that the expression of p-JAK2, p-STAT3 was up-regulated with on changes on the expression of JAK2, STAT3.6. Expression of the constitutively active form of STAT3 can attenuate the effect of berberine on the MCF-7 cell.Conclusion: Berberine can induces apoptosis and proliferation inhibition of breast adenocarcinoma cell lines of MCF-7 through inhibition of the JAK2/STAT3 Signaling pathway.