Vitamin C suppresses cell death in MCF-7 human breast cancer cells induced by tamoxifen

Vitamin C is generally thought to enhance immunity and is widely taken as a supplement especially during cancer treatment. Tamoxifen (TAM) has both cytostatic and cytotoxic properties for breast cancer. TAM engaged mitochondrial oestrogen receptor beta in MCF-7 cells and induces apoptosis by activat...

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Main Authors: Subramani, Tamilselvan, Yeap, Swee Keong, Ho, Wan Yang, Ho, Chai Ling, Omar, Abdul Rahman, Abdul Aziz, Suraini, Nik Abd. Rahman, Nik Mohd. Afizan, Mohamed Alitheen, Noorjahan Banu
Format: Article
Published: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing 2014
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/35992/
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcmm.12188/abstract
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Summary:Vitamin C is generally thought to enhance immunity and is widely taken as a supplement especially during cancer treatment. Tamoxifen (TAM) has both cytostatic and cytotoxic properties for breast cancer. TAM engaged mitochondrial oestrogen receptor beta in MCF-7 cells and induces apoptosis by activation of pro-caspase-8 followed by downstream events, including an increase in reactive oxygen species and the release of pro-apoptotic factors from the mitochondria. In addition to that, TAM binds with high affinity to the microsomal anti-oestrogen-binding site and inhibits cholesterol esterification at therapeutic doses. This study aimed to investigate the role of vitamin C in TAM-mediated apoptosis. Cells were loaded with vitamin C by exposure to dehydroascorbic acid, thereby circumventing in vitro artefacts associated with the poor transport and pro-oxidant effects of ascorbic acid. Pre-treatment with vitamin C caused a dose-dependent attenuation of cytotoxicity, as measured by acridine-orange/propidium iodide (AO/PI) and Annexin V assay after treatment with TAM. Vitamin C dose-dependently protected cancer cells against lipid peroxidation caused by TAM treatment. By real-time PCR analysis, an impressive increase in FasL and tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) mRNA was detected after TAM treatment. In addition, a decrease in mitochondrial transmembrane potential was observed. These results support the hypothesis that vitamin C supplementation during cancer treatment may detrimentally affect therapeutic response.