Griffipavixanthone induces apoptosis of human breast cancer MCF-7 cells in vitro

Background: Griffipavixanthone (GPX) is a compound extracted from Garcinia oblongifolia Champ. But, no research has yet been done about the effect of GPX on breast Cancer.

Methods: We evaluated the proliferation of human breast Cancer cells by CCK-8 assay and Apoptosis by Annexin V (AV)-FITC and PI double staining. We used transwell assay to indicate the invasion and migration of MCF-7. To explore the molecular mechanism of GPX, we detected the mRNA and protein expression using qRT-PCR and Western blot.

Results: In this study, we evaluated if GPX could inhibit the proliferation of human breast Cancer cell MCF-7 and T-47D with IC50 value of 9.64 ± 0.12 µM and 10.2 1 ± 0.38 µM at 48 h. And the IC50 value of MCF-10A is 32.11 ± 0.21 µM, which showed GPX had a tiny side effect for normal breast cells. Annexin V (AV)-FITC and PI double staining demonstrated firmly the Apoptosis of MCF-7 resulting from GPX. Transwell assay indicated that GPX inhibited the invasion and migration of MCF-7. In addition, we found GPX cleaved Caspase-8/9 and PARP, which play important roles in apoptotic pathway. Furthermore, through the Western blot assay, GPX increased the level of pro-apoptosis protein Bax and cytochrome C. On the contrary, GPX decreased the level of anti-apoptosis protein Bcl-2. Moreover, GPX increased the mRNA and protein expression level of p53 and its target genes, which indicated that GPX induced MCF-7 cell Apoptosis by up-regulating p53 and Bax expression while suppressing Bcl-2 expression.

Conclusion: All the results showed that GPX induces MCF-7 cell Apoptosis and could be considered as a potential drug for breast Cancer.

Apoptosis; Breast cancer cell MCF-7; Griffipavixanthone; P53–Bcl-2–Bax axis.