The cytotoxic effect of FASN inhibitor cerulenin and mTOR inhibitor rapamycin on SKBR3, MCF-7and MCF-7/HER2 breast cancer cells.

<p>A, Cerulenin (0, 2.5, 5, 7.5, 10 mg/L) could develop cytotoxic effect on all the three breast cancer cells, and the cytotoxic effect was more significant in HER2-overexpressing cells (SKBR3 and MCF-7/HER2). Cerulenin induced100% cytotoxicity at a concentration of 10 mg/L (24 h treatment) in SKBR3 and MCF-7/HER2 cells, whereas 47% of MCF-7 cells survived under the same condition (p<0.01). B, Rapamycin (0, 2.5, 5,10 nmol/L) was also cytotoxic in all three cell lines but did not exhibit a significant difference in cytotoxicity between the cell lines (p>0.05). C, The combination of rapamycin and cerulenin induced synergistic cytotoxicity in all three breast cancer cell lines, particularly in the ER+/HER2+ cells(MCF-7/HER2>SKBR3>MCF-7, p<0.05). The cytotoxicity of the rapamycin/cerulenin combination was higher than that of cerulenin or rapamycin alone in SKBR3 and MCF-7/HER2 breast cancer cells (p<0.05). In MCF-7 cells, the cytotoxicity of the rapamycin/cerulenin combination was not significantly different than cerulenin alone (p>0.05), but this combination was more cytotoxic than rapamycin alone (p<0.05). There were no differences between rapamycin and cerulenin in any of the three cell lines (p>0.05). In MCF-7/HER2 cells, a low dose of rapamycin (2.5 nmol/L) combined with a low dose of cerulenin (5 mg/L) induced significant cytotoxicity.