Study investigates the effects of calycosin on breast cancer cell progression

Reviewed by Emily Henderson, B.Sc.Aug 23 2021

Aging-US published "Calycosin inhibits breast cancer cell migration and invasion by suppressing EMT via BATF/TGF-β1" which reported that in this study, the authors investigated the effects of calycosin on breast cancer cell progression and their underlying mechanisms. Calycosin dose- and time-dependently inhibited proliferation, migration, and invasion by T47D and MCF-7 breast cancer cells by downregulating basic leucine zipper ATF-like transcription factor expression.

Moreover, BATF promoted breast cancer cell migration and invasiveness by increasing TGFβ1 mRNA and protein levels.

Bioinformatics analysis, dual luciferase reporter assays, and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays confirmed the presence of BATF-binding sites in the promoter sequence of TGFβ1 gene.

Calycosin treatment inhibited epithelial-mesenchymal transition of breast cancer cells by significantly increasing E-cadherin levels and decreasing N-cadherin, Vimentin, CD147, MMP-2, and MMP-9 levels through downregulation of BATF and TGFβ1. TGFβ1 knockdown reduced the migration and invasiveness of BATF-overexpressing breast cancer cells, whereas incubation with TGFβ1 enhanced the migration and invasiveness of calycosin-treated breast cancer cells.

These findings, published in Aging-US, demonstrated that calycosin inhibited EMT and progression of breast cancer cells by suppressing BATF/TGFβ1 signaling. This suggests calycosin would be a promising therapeutic option for breast cancer patients.

"Breast cancer is the most common cause of cancer-related deaths among women worldwide."

Yuzhong Zheng and Dr Fenglian Yang, The Hanshan Normal University

Improvements in diagnosis and therapeutic strategies have increased the survival rates among breast cancer patients in recent decades, but the prognosis of advanced stage breast cancer patients remains poor because of the high rates of drug resistance and disease recurrence.

Phytoestrogens are plant-derived non-steroidal compounds that are structurally similar to 17β-estradiol and demonstrate estrogenic effects on breast cancer cells.

Calycosin inhibited in vitro growth of pancreatic cancer cells by inducing cell cycle arrest and apoptosis; however, it also induced metastatic progression of pancreatic cancer in an orthotopic tumor xenograft mouse model by modulating the tumor microenvironment.

However, the functional role of BATFs in breast cancer is poorly understood.

Hence, in this study, these authors investigated the effects of calycosin on breast cancer cell progression and the underlying mechanisms, including its effect on BATF expression and functions in breast cancer cells.

The Zheng/Yang Research Team concluded in their Aging-US Research Output, "our results demonstrated that calycosin inhibited breast cancer cell progression by suppressing EMT via BATF/TGFβ1. Therefore, calycosin is a promising candidate for breast cancer therapy."