Combination of Broussoflavonol B and Lapatinib sensitizes ER-positive breast cancer stem/progenitor cells to TAM.

<p>A. Tumorsphere formation assay was used to assess the effects of TAM alone or together with 2.5 µM of Lapatinib (LAP), Broussoflavonol B (BB) or BB (2.5 µM) and LAP (2.5 µM) on ER-positive breast cancer stem/progenitor cells derived from parental MCF7 (MCF7/P) and tamoxifen resistant MCF7 cells (MCF7/TAM). The representative results are shown. B. The numbers of tumorspheres formed by MCF7/P and MCF7/TAM cells in the absence or presence of LAP (2.5 µM), BB (2.5 µM) or LAP (2.5 µM) and BB (2.5 µM) together. C. The number of cells from dissociated tumorspheres formed by MCF7/P and MCF7/TAM cells in the absence or presence of LAP (2.5 µM), BB (2.5 µM) or LAP (2.5 µM) and BB (2.5 µM) together. The columns represent the means of three experiments; bars, SE. *, # and Δ, P<0.05 for MCF/TAM cells treated with vehicle vs cells treated with tamoxifen and LAP, BB, or LAP+BB together.