Benzoquinone from Fusarium pigment inhibits the proliferation of estrogen receptor-positive MCF-7 cells through the NF-κB pathway via estrogen receptor signaling

Abstract

Natural pigments are known for possessing a wide range of pharmacological and health-promoting properties. The pigments, produced by a new strain Fusarium (Fusarium sp. JN158) previously identified in our laboratory, were found to have 6 peaks (representing 6 compounds) by high-performance liquid chromatography with a diode-array detector (HPLC-DAD) separation. The 6th peak compound (compound VI) is a benzoquinone compound. In this study, we examined the effects of compound VI on the proliferation of breast cancer cells and aimed to elucidate the underlying mechamisms. Compound VI exerted anti-proliferative effects on MCF-7 estrogen receptor (ER)+ cells in a dose-dependent manner (IC25, 7 µM; IC50, 11 µM), whereas it had no effect on MDA-MB-231 ER− cells and normal cells. The cell index (CI) began to decrease at 24 h following treatment with benzoquinone. Mechanistically, the results from molecular analysis revealed that compound VI inhibited the expression of ERα, progesterone receptor (PR), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), Bcl-2, cyclin D1 and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) p65, while it increased the expression of cleaved caspase-3 and Bax in the MCF-7 cells. Taken together, our findings indicate that compound VI exerts anti-proliferative effects on MCF-7 cells through the NF-κB pathway via the regulation of ER signaling. Our data may indicate that benzoquinone from Fusarium pigment may have potential for use as an anti-proliferative agent in the treatment of breast cancer.

Fungal Pigments and Their Prospects in Different Industries

“…Similarly, benzoquinone has been reported from Fusarium sp. JN158 ( Figure 2) [68]. A study has shown that the synthesis of major Fusarium carotenoids (neurosporaxanthin and β-carotene) is induced by light via transcriptional induction of the structural genes carRA, carB, carT, and carD [43].…”

“…Pigments of Monascus species (M. purpureus and M. pilosus) such as monascin, ankaflavin, monaphilone A-B, monasphilone A-B, monapilol A-D, and monapurone A-C have been proved to possess anticancer/antitumor potential against different types of cancers, such as mouse skin carcinoma, human laryngeal carcinoma, human colon adenocarcinoma, human hepatocellular carcinoma, and pulmonary adenocarcinoma (Figure 12) [32,[56][57][58]204,205]. Besides Monascus, pigments from other fungi such as norsolorinic acid from A. nidulans, shiraiarin from Shiraia bambusicola, alterporriol K, alterporriol L, and alterporriol M from Alternaria spp., benzoquinone from Pigments from different taxonomic groups of fungi having promising anticancer or antitumor potential, re-drawn from [32,[56][57][58]62,68,88,89,113,204,205].…”

“…Pigments from fungal genera of Nectriaceae (Fusarium, Fusicolla, and Albonectria), re-drawn from[25,47,63,65,66,68].…”

“…Pigments from different taxonomic groups of fungi having promising anticancer or antitumor potential, re-drawn from[32,[56][57][58]62,68,88,89,113,204,205].…”

Varying miR-193b-3p Expression Patterns in Breast Cancer Cell Lines Indicates Its Potential for Cancer Management Strategies

“…Among the employed cell-lines, MCF-7 is ER+ and other 2 are ER-, while all 3 cell lines express uPA (24). This fact Int J Cancer Manag.…”