Singular and combined effects of the isoflavone genistein and the retinoid all-trans-retinoic on multicellular tumor spheroids of the estrogen receptor positive primary breast carcinoma cell line MCF-7

Genistein is a phytoestrogen demonstrated to have both growth enhancing and growth inhibitory effects on estrogen receptor positive and estrogen receptor negative breast carcinoma cell lines. All-trans-retinoic acid, ATRA, is a vitamin A derivative shown to inhibit cell proliferation and survival in a variety of breast cancer cell lines. Many cellular pathways have been implicated in the growth inhibitory and cytotoxic responses elicited by these agents. This research study involved a comparison of the growth inhibitory and cytotoxic effects of genistein alone or in combination with ATRA as well as ATRA used as the sole agent in the treatment of the estrogen receptor positive primary breast carcinoma cell line MCF-7 cultured as traditional monolayer configuration and as multicellular tumor spheroids.