Atorvastatin induces autophagy in MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells

  • Ultrastruct Pathol. 2018 Sep-Oct;42(5):409-415. doi: 10.1080/01913123.2018.1522406.
Ming-Bai Hu  1 ,  Jing-Wei Zhang  1 ,  Jing-Bo Gao  1 ,  Yu-Wen Qi  1 ,  Yang Gao  1 ,  Liu Xu  2 ,  Yanbing Ma  2 ,  Zheng-Zhuan Wei  1
Affiliations
  • 1. a Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Zhongnan Hospital, Hubei Key Laboratory of Tumor Biological Behaviors, Hubei Cancer Clinical Study Center , Wuhan University , Wuhan , Hubei , China.
  • 2. b Department of Pathology and Pathophysiology, Hubei Provincial Key Laboratory of Developmentally Originated Disease, School of Basic Medical Sciences , Wuhan University , Wuhan , Hubei , China.
PMID: 30300062 DOI: 10.1080/01913123.2018.1522406
Abstract

This article explores the effects of atorvastatin on cultured breast Cancer cells. Our experiment demonstrated that atorvastatin triggered Autophagy and inhibited proliferation in breast Cancer cells. A CCK8 assay indicated that atorvastatin can inhibit the activity of MDA-MB-231 breast Cancer cells. Western blotting results showed that atorvastatin increased the conversion of light chain 3 (LC3)-I to LC3-phosphatidylethanolamine conjugate (LC3-II). Confocal microscopy was used to reveal the appearance of a punctate structure in the cytoplasm, and electron microscopy was used to reveal the formation of double-membrane autophagosome. In conclusion, our study showed that atorvastatin may affect MDA-MB-231 breast Cancer cells by inducing Autophagy.

Keywords
Atorvastatin; MDA-MB-231; autophagy; ultrastructural changes.
Products