Antitumor Effects of Ruyiping on Cell Growth and Metastasis in Breast Cancer.

BACKGROUND: Ruyiping is an effective traditional Chinese herbal medicine formula for preventing postoperative recurrence and metastasis of breast cancer. However, the exact function and underlying mechanism of Ruyiping in breast cancer remain unclear.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: After breast cancer cell lines MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-468 were treated with Ruyiping, the CCK8, colony formation, wound-healing, and transwell invasion assays were used to examine cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, respectively. Flow cytometry was performed to examine the effect of Ruyiping on cell cycle distribution. Western blot was performed to examine the expression of related proteins, and the activity of MMP9 was detected using Gelatin zymography assay.

RESULTS: Ruyiping treatment significantly inhibited cell proliferation and viability of MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-468 cells. Ruyiping was also revealed to trigger cell cycle arrest at the G2 phase in MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-468 cells. Moreover, Ruyiping suppressed the migration and invasion abilities of MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-468 cells in vitro. Furthermore, Ruyiping blocked the activity of MMP9 in MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-468 cells. Additionally, western blotting showed that Ruyiping attenuated epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of breast cancer through downregulation of N-cadherin, Vimentin, Snail1, and Snail2 and upregulation of E-cadherin. The authors observed that the components of Ruyiping Pseudobulbus Cremastra seu pleiones polysaccharide and curcumol showed significant suppression in the growth and invasion of breast cancer cell.

CONCLUSIONS: The observations of this study suggest the antitumor properties of Ruyiping in cell growth and invasion of breast cancer, which are modulated by induction of cell cycle arrest and reduction of MMP9 and EMT.