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Endocrine Abstracts (2016) 41 EP956 | DOI: 10.1530/endoabs.41.EP956

ECE2016 Eposter Presentations Steroid metabolism + action (13 abstracts)

An estrogen receptor signaling pathway is involved in 3,3′-diindolylmethane-induced inhibition of cell migration of MCF-7 breast cancer caused by triclosan via the regulation of epithelial- mesenchymal transition

Geum-A Lee , Kyung-Chul Choi & Kyung-A Hwang


Laboratory of Biochemistry and Immunology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Republic of Korea.


Triclosan (TCS) is an endocrine-disrupting chemical and has a potential to increase progression of hormone responsive cancers as does 17β-estradiol (E2). 3,3′-diindolylmethane (DIM), a phytoestrogen, has been known to have anticancer activity. In this study, we examined the anti-proliferative and anti-epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) effects of DIM on TCS or E2-induced EMT of MCF-7 breast cancer cells, which express estrogen receptors (ERs). In MTT assay, TCS (10-4-10-7 M) induced growth of MCF-7 cells compared to a control (DMSO) like E2 (a positive control, 10–9 M), which was antagonized by addition of ICI 182,720 (10-8 M), suggesting that the cell proliferation effect induced by TCS appears to be mediated by an ER-dependent manner. On the contrary, DIM (20–50 μM) significantly reduced the increased viability of MCF-7 cells induced by TCS or E2. In a scratch assay, TCS enhanced migration of MCF-7 cells like E2, but co-treatment of DIM or ICI 182,720 reduced the migration ability of TCS and E2 to a control level. Next, we measured TCS or E2-induced alterations in mRNA and protein expression levels of EMT related markers, i.e., E-cadherin, N-cadherin, snail and slug by reverse transcription (RT)-PCR and western blot assay. mRNA and protein expression of E-cadherin was declined while N-cadherin, snail, and slug expressions were increased by TCS or E2, indicating that TCS induced EMT process in MCF-7 cells like E2. Differently, DIM was shown to adversely affect the expression of EMT markers induced by TCS or E2. Taken together, these results present that DIM effectively inhibits the cell growth and EMT process of MCF-7 cells increased by TCS or E2. Based on these in vitro results, in vivo effect of TCS and DIM on tumor growth and EMT process will be examined in a xenografted mouse model transplanted with MCF-7 breast cancer cells.

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