BackgroundBreast cancer is a major problem in the United States leading to tens of thousands of deaths each year. Although citrus auraptene suppresses cancer in numerous rodent models, its role in breast cancer prevention previously has not been reported. Thus, our goal was to determine the anticarcinogenic effects of auraptene against breast cancer.MethodsThe effects of auraptene on cell proliferation of MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 human breast carcinoma cells in culture was assessed by measuring metabolism of a substrate to a formazan dye. Dietary effects of auraptene on tumor incidence, multiplicity and latency were studied in the N-methyl nitrosourea (MNU) induced mammary carcinogenesis model in female Sprague Dawley rats. The concentration of auraptene in rat tissues was analyzed by reverse phase HPLC. Cyclin D1 expression in MCF-7 cells and rat tumors was measured by western blot.ResultsAuraptene (500 ppm) significantly delayed median time to tumor by 39 days compared to the MNU only group (p < 0.05, n = 24–26). Auraptene (10 μM) reduced Insulin like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1, 10 ng/mL)-induced cyclin D1 expression by 40% in MCF-7 cells. In comparison, western blot analysis of rat mammary tumors (n = 10 per group) confirmed that auraptene (500 ppm) significantly reduced (p < 0.05) cyclin D1 expression by 49% compared to the MNU only group. Analysis of rat mammary tissue extract by HPLC with fluorescence detection indicated an average concentration (means ± S.E.) of 1.4 ± 0.5 μM and 1.8 ± 0.3 μM in the normal mammary glands of the auraptene 200 ppm and 500 ppm groups, respectively. The concentration (means ± S.E.) of auraptene in the mammary tumors of the auraptene 200 ppm group was 0.31 ± 0.98 μM.ConclusionOverall, these observations suggest that the predominant effect of auraptene was to delay the development of tumors possibly through the suppression of cyclin D1 expression. These results point to the potential chemopreventive effects of auraptene in mammary carcinogenesis.

BackgroundEukaryotic initiation factor 4E (eIF4E) is elevated in many cancers and is a prognostic indicator in breast cancer. Many pro-tumorigenic proteins are selectively translated via eIF4E, including c-Myc, cyclin D1, ornithine decarboxylase (ODC), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and Tousled-like kinase 1B (TLK1B). However, western blot analysis of these factors in human breast cancer has been limited by the availability of fresh frozen tissue and the labor-intensive nature of the multiple assays required. Our goal was to validate whether formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues arranged in a tissue microarray (TMA) format would be more efficient than the use of fresh-frozen tissue and western blot to test multiple downstream gene products.ResultsBreast tumor TMAs were stained immunohistochemically and quantitated using the ARIOL imaging system. In the TMAs, eIF4E levels correlated strongly with c-Myc, cyclin D1, TLK1B, VEGF, and ODC. Western blot comparisons of eIF4E vs. TLK1B were consistent with the immunohistochemical results. Consistent with our previous western blot results, eIF4E did not correlate with node status, ER, PR, or HER-2/neu.ConclusionWe conclude that the TMA technique yields similar results as the western blot technique and can be more efficient and thorough in the evaluation of several products downstream of eIF4E.

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