Open AccessAtorvastatin enhances anti-apoptotic effects of tamoxifen on melanoma cancer cells
Author(s) -
Maedeh Ghasemi,
Maryam Malek,
Sh Haghjooy Javanmard,
Ahmad Gharehbaghian,
Hajar Naji Esfahani,
Golnaz Vaseghi
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
bratislavské lekárske listy/bratislava medical journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.387
H-Index - 32
eISSN - 1336-0345
pISSN - 0006-9248
DOI - 10.4149/bll_2019_125
Subject(s) - tamoxifen , atorvastatin , apoptosis , cancer research , estrogen receptor , pharmacology , agonist , cytotoxicity , medicine , endocrinology , chemistry , breast cancer , cancer , receptor , biochemistry , in vitro
Tamoxifen engages mitochondrial estrogen receptor beta as an antagonist, increases mitochondrial cytotoxicity and induces tumor cell death. Tamoxifen also engages plasma membrane estrogen receptor alpha as an agonist, while it is suggested that in some users its activation is put into action by mechanism of resistance to tamoxifen. Apoptotic inducers have been shown to promote tamoxifen-induced cell death, which might be of great importance in overcoming tamoxifen resistance. Considering the pleiotropic effects of statins, in the present study, we investigated the effects of atorvastatin on tamoxifen-induced intrinsic apoptotic pathway activity in melanoma cells.