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Pterostilbene down‐regulates hTERT at physiological concentrations in breast cancer cells: Potentially through the inhibition of cMyc
Author(s) -
Daniel Michael,
Tollefsbol Trygve O.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
journal of cellular biochemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.028
H-Index - 165
eISSN - 1097-4644
pISSN - 0730-2312
DOI - 10.1002/jcb.26495
Subject(s) - pterostilbene , telomerase , telomerase reverse transcriptase , cancer research , cell growth , apoptosis , downregulation and upregulation , resveratrol , cancer , cancer cell , cell cycle , cell , chemistry , biology , pharmacology , biochemistry , gene , genetics
Human telomerase reverse transcriptase ( hTERT ) encodes the catalytic subunit of telomerase, which has been shown to be upregulated in many cancers. Pterostilbene is a naturally occurring stilbenoid and phytoalexin found primarily in blueberries that exhibits antioxidant activity and inhibits the growth of various cancer cell types. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine whether treatment with pterostilbene, at physiologically achievable concentrations, can inhibit the proliferation of breast cancer cells and down‐regulate the expression of hTERT . We found that pterostilbene inhibits the cellular proliferation of MCF‐7 and MDA‐MB‐231 breast cancer cells in both a time‐ and dose‐dependent manner, without significant toxicity to the MCF10A control cells. Pterostilbene was also shown to increase apoptosis in both breast cancer cell lines. Dose‐dependent cell cycle arrest in G1 and G2/M phase was observed after treatment with pterostilbene in MCF‐7 and MDA‐231 cells, respectively. hTERT expression was down‐regulated after treatment in both a time‐ and dose‐dependent manner. Pterostilbene also reduced telomerase levels in both cell lines in a dose‐dependent manner. Moreover, cMyc, a proposed target of the pterostilbene‐mediated inhibition of hTERT, was down‐regulated both transcriptionally and posttranscriptionally after treatment. Collectively, these findings highlight a promising use of pterostilbene as a natural, preventive, and therapeutic agent against the development and progression of breast cancer.