Abstract
Purpose: The treatment of triple-negative breast cancer remains a daunting challenge with the standard-of-care treatments eventually failing due to acquired drug resistance, toxic side effects and the presence of a deregulated immune response. New treatments for overcoming these drawbacks include the use of plant extracts.
Study design: In this study, the efficacy of betulinic acid, a naturally abundant phytochemical exhibiting anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferative activity, has been evaluated for the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-468 cell lines. Furthermore, the ability of betulinic acid to inhibit angiogenesis was also determined.
Results: Here, we report that betulinic acid was able to inhibit the inflammatory response, inhibit angiogenesis and cause cell cycle arrest ultimately causing apoptosis in triple-negative breast cancer cells. Our findings support that the identification of naturally occurring anti-tumour compounds may provide a chemotherapeutic approach for the treatment of triple-negative breast cancer.
Conclusion: Overall, our results provide a molecular basis for the ability of betulinic acid to mediate apoptosis, suppress inflammation and inhibit angiogenesis in triple-negative breast cancer cell lines.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 1-12 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | SAGE Open Medicine |
| Volume | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2014 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Copyright the Author(s) 2014. Version archived for private and non-commercial use with the permission of the author/s and according to publisher conditions. For further rights please contact the publisher.Keywords
- Triple-negative breast cancer
- drug resistance
- toxicity
- phytochemical
- betulinic acid