Atorvastatin Inhibits Viability and Migration of MCF7 Breast Cancer Cells
Atorvastatin Inhibits Viability and Migration of MCF7 Breast Cancer Cells
Reyhaneh Abolghasemi,1,*Somayeh Ebrahimi-barough,2Naghmeh Bahrami,3Jafar Ai,4
1. Clinical Sciences Institute, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. 2. Department of Tissue Engineering, Faculty of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. 3. Department of Tissue Engineering, Faculty of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran. 4. Department of Tissue Engineering, Faculty of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Introduction: Atorvastatin is commonly used as a lipid-lowering drug. The emerging interest in statins as
anticancer agents is based on their pleiotropic effects on cancer cells. Among the statins,
atorvastatin, and in cancers, breast malignancies have received less attention in preclinical
investigations. In order to enhance the efficacy of cancer treatment, adjuvant, less expensive
therapeutic strategies have been recently noticed. In this case, we investigated the in-vitro effect
of atorvastatin on the viability and migration of the MCF7 breast cancer cell line.
Methods: We tested the cytotoxicity of atorvastatin on breast cancer cell survival by MTT assay. Annexin-V / PI staining and then flow cytometry of cancer cells in addition to quantitative real-time PCR tests quantified the apoptosis and necrosis of cancer cells. We figured out the impact of atorvastatin on cancer cell migration capability through scratch-wound healing assay and transwell migration examination. Inverted light microscope and fluorescent imaging displayed the morphological changes following treatment of MCF7 cells with atorvastatin.
Results: We concluded that atorvastatin can trigger MCF7 cancer cells to undergo necrosis and caspase-dependent apoptosis based on the viable/dead cell number, mitotic cell cycle, gene expression, and morphological assays. The results were dose- and time-dependent and the half-maximal inhibitory concentration of atorvastatin for cancer cells’ viability inhibition was 9.1 μM/L(nM/mL). Moreover, the migration of MCF7 cells was inhibited in the treated group as we figured out in two- and three-dimensional migration methods.
Conclusion: In-vitro inspection of drug-cancer cell interactions paves the way for future in-vivo research studies. These in-vitro results revealed that atorvastatin has anti-viability and anti-migration effects on breast cancer cells.