In vitro study about the inhibitory effect of CDAII in combination with sodium butyrate on breast cancer cells

To investigate if the combined use of CDAII and sodium butyrate can induce demethylation and re-expression of retinoic acid receptor beta2 (RARbeta2) gene in cultured human breast cancer cells MCF7. To explore if the two drugs can inhibit cell growth and induce cell apoptosis synergetically.MCF7 cell line was treated with CDAII, sodium butyrate, combination of the two drugs respectively. Methylation was assessed by methylation-specific polymerase chain reaction (MSP) for RARbeta2 gene. Gene expression was evaluated by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Apoptosis was detected by terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase mediated dUTP-biotin nick end labeling(TUNEL) and Hoechst33342/propidiumiodide (PI) staining. Cell growth inhibition was measured by MTT assay.Neither CDAII nor sodium butyrate induced demethylation and re-expression of RARbeta2 gene, Combination of the two drugs partially demethylated gene promoter accompanied by re-expression of RARbeta2. The apoptotic cells in the double-drug group were obvious following Hoechst33342/PI staining. The percentage of apoptotic cells in the double-drug group was significantly higher than that of the two single-drug group (39.5% vs 5.2%, 8.1%) (P<0.05). MTT assay showed that compared with single drug,combination of the two drugs inhibited cell growth more significantly, and the two drugs showed interaction (F=15, P<0.05).We showed that CDAII, in combination with histone deacetylase inhibitor sodium butyrate synergetically inhibited the proliferation of MCF7 breast cancer cell line and induced apoptosis, in which demethylation and re-expression of RARbeta2 gene induced by combination of the two drugs may be involved.PubMed05476-803