31. The Mechanism of Cell Death of Triple Negative Breast Cancer Cells by Natural Products

Abstract

Triple negative breast cancer is a very aggressive form of breast cancer. These are from the toughest cancer cells to kill because targeted therapy is unavailable currently due to the lack of the three most common receptors in these cancer cells (estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, and HER2). Chemotherapy is the only treatment option for patients suffering from triple negative breast cancer. Chemotherapy has side effects as it cannot differentiate between normal fast dividing cells and cancer cells. Our research has focused on using natural products like turmeric, blueberries, garlic, ginger, grapefruit, and ashwagandha for the treatment of triple negative breast cancer, as natural products do not have side effects and are well tolerated. TNBC cell lines MDA 231 and MDA 468 were used for this work. These cells were treated with the different concentrations of natural products and cell death was observed by MTT assay. We are trying to understand the mechanism of cell death by western blotting. The lysates of triple negative breast cancer cells treated with natural products were prepared, and the protein content in these lysates was measured by BCA assay. The level of Caspase-3, an indicator of apoptosis (programed cell death,) is currently being analyzed in these lysates. Understanding the mechanism of cell death in these cells by natural products will help in using these natural products for the treatment of triple negative breast cancer in the future.

Key words: Triple negative breast cancer, Natural products, Cell lines, Western blotting, Caspase-3, Apoptosis.