Effect of ulinastatin on growth inhibition,apoptosis of breast carcinoma cells is related to a decrease in signal conduction of JNk-2 and NF-B

Objective. this study aims to investigate the in vitro effects of ulinastatin (uti) and taxotere (txt) on cell proliferation; cell apoptosis; xenografted tumor growth; and expression of insulin-like growth factor receptor 1 (igf-1r),platelet-derived growth factor a (pdgfa),nerve growth factor (ngf),c-jun n-terminal kinase 2 (jnk-2),and nf-b in a human primary breast cancer cells and breast cancer cell line mda-mb-231. methods. the cell lines cultured were divided into four groups: 1) control group,2) uti group,3) txt group,and 4) uti+txt group. the method of mtt essay,flow cytometry,and rt-pcr were used to detect cell proliferation,cell apoptosis,and expression of igf-1r,pdgfa,ngf,nf-b,jnk-2,respectively. the growth of xenografted tumor in nude mice was used to calculate the anti-tumor rate. immunohistochemistry staining (sp) was used to detect the expression of igf-1r,pdgfa,ngf,ki-67,caspase-3,jnk-2,and nf-b. results: proliferation of human breast cancer cells and mda-mb-231 cell lines,and growth rate of xenografted tumor decreased in order of uti+txt > txt > uti > control,apoptosis increased in the order control < uti < txt < uti+txt. the gene expression and protein expression of igf-1r,pdgfa,ngf,nf-b and jnk-2 in breast cancer cells was inhibited by uti and txt. conclusions: uti 1) inhibits the proliferation of human breast cancer cells and the growth of xenografted tumors,2) induces cancer cell apoptosis,and 3) enhances the anti-tumor effect of txt. this mechanism might be related to decreasing signal transduction of jnk-2 and nf-b,and then expression of igf-1r,pdgfa,ngf. © 2012 wang et al.