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Query: UMLS:C0006142 (breast cancer)
 160,383 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

We studied the effects of interleukin-1 alpha (IL-1) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) on MCF-7 breast cancer cells to determine whether these cytokines act additively/synergistically to alter cell growth and metabolism. We found that IL-1 alone (1000 units/ml) inhibited cell growth to a greater degree (83.8%) than IL-6 alone (29.2%, P < 0.001). The combination of IL-1 + IL-6 caused greater inhibition of growth (92.9%, P < 0.02) than either cytokine alone. The additive effect was dose dependent for both IL-1 and IL-6. IL-1 and IL-6 also antagonized estradiol (10(-9) M) stimulated growth. Antagonism by the combination was greater than for either cytokine alone (P < 0.001). IL-1 or IL-6 alone each down-regulated the estrogen receptor (36.7%, P < 0.01, and 23.2%, P < 0.05, respectively), but the combination IL-1 + IL-6 did not cause a significantly greater effect than IL-1 alone. Neither IL-1 or IL-6 blocked estradiol stimulation of progesterone receptor (PR) synthesis; however, the combination IL-1 + IL-6 increased PR content by 28.4% (P < 0.01). IL-1, but not IL-6, increased secretion of transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) by 2.45-fold over 72 h (P < 0.01). The increase was time dependent (detectable at 24 h) and dose dependent (maximum increase of 5.3-fold, 10,000 units/ml, P < 0.02). IL-1-induced TGF-beta secretion was blocked by estradiol (10(-9) M). Neither cytokine altered secretion of insulin-like growth factor-1. These findings indicate that IL-1 and IL-6 act additively to inhibit growth in the absence or presence of estradiol and modulate the estrogen receptor and progesterone receptor content of these cells. TGF-beta may mediate the effects of IL-1; however, other pathways appear to be required for the additive effects of these cytokines.
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PMID:Interleukin-1 alpha and interleukin-6 act additively to inhibit growth of MCF-7 breast cancer cells in vitro. 845 20

We cultured primary human mammary epithelial cells from five reduction mammoplasties and five breast carcinomas and attempted to improve culture conditions and define cell populations grown. Normal cells cultured on Matrigel basement membrane-like substance formed multicellular three-dimensional structures reminiscent of tissue ducts and alveoli, while malignant cells remained as single cells crawling through Matrigel much as malignant cells separate and invade basement membrane in vivo. This re-creation of normal and malignant breast cell morphology may facilitate studies of breast cancer cell biology and determination of malignant cell authenticity in culture. Growth of cells in a reduced oxygen concentration of 12% improved cell proliferation over room air (21%); however, cells could not proliferate in a completely physiological oxygen concentration of 6%, perhaps because of the medium used. We developed an improved medium for malignant cell growth, which lengthened their life span in culture, and a completely defined medium which supported cell proliferation for six passages. Methods to determine the epithelial nature of mammary epithelial cells are illustrated and discussed. The authenticity of malignant cells in culture was suggested by their proliferation without certain growth factors required for normal cell growth or with transforming growth factor-beta, which arrests normal cell proliferation, and by their contact independence.
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PMID:Culture of normal and malignant primary human mammary epithelial cells in a physiological manner simulates in vivo growth patterns and allows discrimination of cell type. 849 28

Previously, we demonstrated that the progestin components (19-nortestosterone derivatives) in oral contraceptives are able to stimulate human breast cancer cell proliferation via an estrogen receptor (ER)-mediated mechanism. We now examine RU486, an antiprogestin, to determine whether it has estrogenic properties because it is also a 19-nortestosterone derivative. We found that RU486 stimulated the growth of MCF-7 human breast cancer cells at a concentration of 10(-6) M, which is similar to the pharmacological concentration (micromolar range) found in women taking RU486. The antiestrogens 4-hydroxytamoxifen and ICI 164,384 blocked RU486-induced cell proliferation. The estrogenic activity of RU486 is not due to impurities or aromatization to estrogenic metabolites. To determine whether the proliferative action of RU486 was mediated through the ER, cells were transfected with a chloramphenicol acetyltransferase reporter gene under the control of an estrogen response element derived from the Xenopus laevis vitellogenin 2A gene. We found that RU486 was able to induce chloramphenicol acetyltransferase activity at the concentrations that stimulated cell proliferation, and this induction was blocked by the addition of 4-hydroxytamoxifen and ICI 164,384. The estrogenic potential of RU486 to regulate ER target gene expression was also investigated. We found that, like 17 beta-estradiol (E2), RU486 was able to alter the expression and synthesis of progesterone receptor. The level of progesterone receptor (145 and 186 fmol/mg cytosol protein, respectively) was increased significantly compared to the control value (3 fmol/mg cytosol protein) with the addition of 10(-6) M RU486 or 10(-10) M E2, as determined by an enzyme immunoassay. The levels of transforming growth factor-beta 2 (TGF beta 2) and TGF beta 3 mRNA, but not TGF beta 1 mRNA, were decreased dramatically with the addition of 10(-6) M RU486. This is consistent with the effects of E2 on TGF beta expression. Therefore, RU486 has estrogen-like activities in its regulation of ER target gene expression. These results demonstrate that RU486 is a weak estrogen in human breast cancer cells and suggest that the RU486-induced cell proliferation is mediated via ER. The novel finding that RU486 exhibits some estrogen-like activity may be important for the interpretation of its action at high dosages as an abortifacient and also if RU486 is going to be evaluated clinically, again at high doses, for the treatment of breast cancer.
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PMID:Estrogenic actions of RU486 in hormone-responsive MCF-7 human breast cancer cells. 850 63

Acidic protein extracts have been made from breast tumour specimens, collected at the time of primary surgery. The extracts were partially purified by gel filtration and then tested for transforming growth factor-beta activity in a reproducible cell 3H-thymidine incorporation assay. Purified TGF-beta causes a reproducible increase in NRK colony formation and inhibits incorporation of 3H-thymidine by mink lung cells. However, some of the breast cancer extracts were stimulatory in the mink lung lung assay implying that a mitogenic factor like epidermal growth factor (EGF) was co-purified. Fourteen out of thirty extracts were scored positive for TGF-beta in the NRK colony forming assay and these tumours presented at an earlier clinical stage and were predominantly well differentiated.
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PMID:Bioassay of transforming growth factor-beta activity in acidic protein extracts from primary breast cancer specimens. 851 58

Chemoprevention is a new branch of oncology which aims to use chemical agents to reduce the incidence of malignant diseases in humans. On the basis of a growing mass of experimental data, it is now felt that the importance of early, precursor lesions of clinically symptomatic cancer should be recognized. Just as in cardiovascular disease, there is now major emphasis on the natural history of tumors and some authors believe that the actual disease process is carcinogenesis, rather than cancer. Indeed, as the chemoprevention of cardiovascular illness with pharmacological agents that either lower blood cholesterol or prevent platelet aggregation is widespread, the effectiveness of different chemical compounds in preventing cancer or, at least in delaying its onset, is presently under investigation. For breast cancer, various agents have been suggested as having chemopreventive effects: vitamins C and E, difluoromethylornithine, selenium, retinoids and antiestrogens. Among retinoids, 4-(N-hydroxyphenyl)retinamide, fenretinide, is at present the most promising molecule, due to its ability to concentrate in the mammary gland. Attention has recently been focussed on tamoxifen because of its effectiveness in reducing the incidence of contralateral tumors in breast cancer patients. Finally, the recent discovery of the steroid receptor superfamily is expected to stimulate further research into combination chemoprevention (the use of multiple agents to achieve synergistic effects while diminishing toxicity). As retinoids and tamoxifen both increase the synthesis or activity or transforming growth factor-beta, a cytokine which is a potent inhibitor of epithelial cell proliferation, tamoxifen and fenretinide are now proposed as the first model of combination chemoprevention in breast cancer.
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PMID:Retinoids and tamoxifen in breast cancer chemoprevention. 851 14

Inhibins and activins are members of the transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) superfamily. Since TGF beta has been shown to be a potent proliferation-inhibiting agent for the breast cancer cell line MCF-7, we determined whether this cell line (a) transcribes messenger RNAs coding inhibin/activin alpha-, beta A-, and beta B-subunits and activin receptors, and (b) produces inhibin and/or activin proteins. Messenger RNAs for alpha- and beta-subunits of inhibin/activin and activin receptor II in MCF-7 cells were detected and localized using the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) analysis and in situ hybridization, respectively. The identity of the RT-PCR products was confirmed by DNA sequencing of PCR products. Immunocytochemically, inhibin and activin were localized in these cells. Our findings that messenger RNAs encoding inhibin alpha-subunit, inhibin/activin beta A-subunit, and activin receptor II were expressed, and inhibin/activin proteins were produced by MCF-7 cells, imply that these gonadal growth factors may have paracrine/autocrine functions in human breast cancer. Further, these observations suggest that these growth factors may be involved in regulating the growth and differentiation of human breast cancer cells.
Breast Cancer Res Treat 1996
PMID:Expression and localization of inhibin/activin subunits and activin receptors in MCF-7 cells, a human breast cancer cell line. 875 May 82

The transforming growth factor-beta s are potent growth inhibitors of normal and transformed breast epithelial cells in culture. In vivo, these peptides modulate the development of the mouse mammary gland. Tissue-specific overexpression of mature TGF-beta 1 in transgenic mice results in mammary gland atrophy and prevention of carcinogen-induced breast tumorigenesis. However, the inhibitory effect of endogenous or exogenous TGF-beta s on established tumor cells is less clear. Several published circumstantial and more direct data argue that, in some cases, the tumor cell TGF-beta s may contribute to the maintenance and/or progression of tumor cells in an intact host by modulating their interaction with host factors. This differential role of the TGF-beta s on mammary cells as determined by their normal or transformed phenotype as well as the biological and clinical implications of these data are discussed.
Breast Cancer Res Treat 1996
PMID:The multifunctional role of transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta s on mammary epithelial cell biology. 882 22

The pathogenesis of breast cancer-induced osteolysis remains largely unknown. To evaluate the potential role of osteoblasts as target cells during this process, we incubated SaOS-2 human osteoblast-like cells (OBL) with culture media conditioned by proliferative (PM, 'Proliferation Media') or confluent (CfM, 'Confluence Media') MCF-7 human breast cancer cells. CfM decreased the growth of OBL by 26% (P < 0.01) while PM was without significant effect on this parameter. In contrast, both PM and CfM obtained from MCF-7 cultures increased the cyclic AMP (cAMP) response of OBL to the osteolytic agents PTH (10(-8) M) and PTH-related peptide (PTHrP, 10(-8) M) by a factor of about 3 (P < 0.001), and to prostaglandin E(2) (PGE(2),10(-6) M) by a factor of about 2 (P < 0.01). No significant modulation of OBL growth or sensitivity to PTH, PTHrP, or PGE2 was induced by media obtained from HBL-100 non-malignant immortalized breast epithelial cell cultures. 17betaestradiol (E(2), 10(-8) M) and the antiestrogen tamoxifen (Tam, 10(-7) M) added for 48 h to MCF-7 cultures before collecting conditioned media attenuated and potentiated, respectively, the PM- but not the CfM-induced increase in the response of OBL to PTH or PTHrP Along the same line, the addition to MCF-7 conditioned media of a polyclonal anti-transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) antibody attenuated by about 25% (P < 0.01) the PM-induced increase in OBL response to PTH and PTHrP while abrogating the modulatory effects of E(2) and Tam on that response. Together, our results indicate that MCF-7 breast cancer cells secrete factors which inhibit the growth of OBL and increase their sensitivity to various osteolytic agents. TGF-beta was only partly responsible for these effects, and accounts for their modulation by E(2) and Tam. The identification of other osteoblast-modulatory factor(s) should contribute to a better understanding and treatment of breast cancer-induced osteolysis.
Breast Cancer Res Treat 1996
PMID:Effects of secretory products of breast cancer cells on osteoblast-like cells. 886 39

The proliferation of MDA-MB-435 human breast cancer cells was inhibited by RRR-alpha-tocopheryl succinate (vitamin E succinate, VES). Conditioned media (CM) from VES growth-inhibited cells contained potent antiproliferative activity, part of which is contributed by transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) isoforms. Antibody neutralization analysis, employing TGF-beta isoform-specific antibody reagents, showed that TGF-beta 1, -beta 2, and -beta 3 were present in the CM from VES-treated cells. Culturing MDA-MB-435 cells with VES did not alter the levels of constitutively expressed 2.4-kb TGF-beta 1, 3.0- and 4.0-kb TGF-beta 2, or 1.2- and 3.5-kb TGF-beta 3 mRNA transcripts. Inhibition of DNA synthesis by MDA-MB-435 cells was increased by combinations of suboptimal levels of VES and purified TGF-beta 1. VES-treated MDA-MB-435 cells exhibited enhanced binding of radiolabeled TGF-beta 1, and Western immunoblotting analyses showed that VES treatment enhanced TGF-beta type II receptor protein expression. TGF-beta type I receptor protein levels were not modified by VES treatments. Although the mRNA transcript for the 5.5-kb TGF-beta type II receptor was upregulated after four hours of treatment with VES, this treatment did not modify the 6.5-kb TGF-beta type I or the 6.5-kb TGF-beta type II receptor mRNAs. Results demonstrate that biologically active TGF-beta 1, -beta 2, -beta 3 and levels of TGF-beta type II receptor expressed by human breast cancer cells are enhanced by VES treatment.
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PMID:RRR-alpha-tocopheryl succinate enhances TGF-beta 1, -beta 2, and -beta 3 and TGF-beta R-II expression by human MDA-MB-435 breast cancer cells. 887 61

Women who have palpable breast cysts with intracystic Na/K > 3 may have a lower risk of developing breast cancer than those with intracystic Na/K < 3. In this study significantly higher concentrations of insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-3 (IGFBP-3), insulin-like growth factors I and II (IGF-I, IGF-II) and transforming growth factor-beta 2 (TGF-beta2) were found in the Na/K > 3 sub-group. No difference was found in transforming-growth factor-beta 1 (TGF-beta1) levels between the two sub-groups of breast cysts. A positive correlation was obtained for IGFBP-3 and TGF-beta1 in the Na/ K > 3 sub-group consistent with reports that TGF-beta1 may regulate the production of IGFBP-3. Equimolar amounts of total IGFs and IGFBP-3 in breast cyst fluid imply that most, if not all, of these IGFs are protein-bound. The significantly higher concentrations of TGF-beta2 in the Na/K > 3 sub-group may partly explain the lower risk of breast cancer in this group of women.
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PMID:Insulin-like growth factor binding protein-3 in breast cyst fluid: relationships with insulin-like growth factors I and II and transforming growth factor-beta 1 and 2. 901 3


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