Fosfoetanolamina induz parada do ciclo celular apoptose em células MCF-7 do câncer de
mama humano diminuindo o potencial trans-membrana mitocondrial
Synthetic phosphoethanolamine induces cell cycle arrest and
apoptosis in human breast cancer MCF-7 cells through the
mitochondrial pathway.
Ferreira AK1, Meneguelo R, Pereira A, Filho OM, Chierice GO, Maria DA.
Biomed Pharmacother. 2013 Jul;67(6):481-7.
Author information

1
Biochemistry and Biophysical Laboratory, Butantan Institute, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Abstract
Phosphoethanolamine (Pho-s) is a compound involved in phospholipid turnover, acting as a
substrate for many phospholipids of the cell membranes. In a recent study, we showed that
Pho-s has antitumor effect in the several tumor cells. In this study we evaluated the antitumor
activity of synthetic Pho-s on MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Here we demonstrate that Pho-s is
cytotoxic to MCF-7 cells in a dose-dependent manner, while it is cytotoxic to MCF10 only at
higher concentrations. In addition, Pho-s induces a disruption in mitochondrial membrane
potential (Δψm). Furthermore, Pho-s induces mitochondria aggregates in the cytoplasm and
DNA fragmentation of MCF-7 cells visualized by confocal microscopy. In agreement with the
reduction on Δψm, we showed that Pho-s induces apoptosis followed by an increase in
cytochrome c expression and capase-3-like activity in MCF-7 cells. Our results demonstrate that
Pho-s induces a cell cycle arrest in the G1 phase through an inhibition of cyclin D1 and
stimulates p53. An additional highlight of this study is the finding that Pho-s inhibits Bcl-2,
inducing apoptosis through the mitochondrial pathway. Taken together, these results show that
Pho-s is a promising compound in the fight against cancer.
Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
KEYWORDS:
Apoptosis; Caspase-3-like; MCF-7 breast cancer; Mitochondria; Synthetic
phosphoethanolamine
PMID:
23773853