Salidroside has been identified as one of the most potent compounds isolated from the plant Rhodiola rosea, and was found to have several important biological properties, including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity; however, its anticancer effects are poorly understood. Thus, the present study focused on evaluating the effects of purified salidroside on the growth of human breast cancer in vitro and in vivo, and on further investigating its possible molecular mechanisms. The human breast cancer cell line, MCF-7, was incubated with various concentrations of salidroside, and cell proliferation, colony formation, cell cycle distribution, apoptosis, migration and invasion were assayed by several in vitro approaches. As a result, it was found that salidroside treatment significantly inhibited cell proliferation, colony formation, migration and invasion, as well as induced cell apoptosis and cell cycle arrest at the G0/G1 phase in vitro. In addition, we also evaluated the effect of salidroside on tumor growth in a nude mouse model, and found that salidroside treatment significantly suppressed tumor growth in vivo. We also further disclosed that salidroside treatment significantly inhibited the intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation and MAPK pathway activation, which may contribute to the inhibition of tumor growth of breast cancer and reduction of oxidative stress. In conclusion, these findings suggest that salidroside may be a promising candidate target for the prevention and treatment of human breast cancer.

BackgroundAs an important perennial herbaceous flower, Salvia splendens possesses high ornamental value. Understanding its branching processes may help scientists select the best plant type. Although Salvia splendens is a frequently-used horticultural flower, only limited transcriptomic or genomic research is available in public databases. In the present study, we, for the first time, constructed a comprehensive dataset for Salvia splendens through de novo high-throughput transcriptome sequencing.Methodology/Principal FindingsWe performed de novo transcriptome sequencing on two different branching type plants (Strain 35 and Cailinghong) using the Illumina paired-end sequencing technology. For Strain 35, a total of 16,488,829 reads were generated and assembled into 38,498 unigenes, with a mean length of approximately 779 bp. For Cailinghong, 16,464,713 reads were generated and assembled into 34,302 unigenes, with a mean length of approximately 812 bp. Moreover, a total of 49,310 unigenes for Salvia splendens were identified, among them 33,925 (68.80%) were annotated in the non-redundant NCBI database, 25,371 (51.45%) were annotated in the Swiss-Prot database, while 24,888 (50.47%) and 9,896 (20.07%) unigenes were assigned to gene ontology categories and clusters of orthologous groups, respectively. Using the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway database, we identified 134 differently expressed unigenes between Strain 35 and Cailinghong, and then these unigenes were mapped to 79 pathways. In addition, we detected 2,453 simple sequence repeats (SSRs).ConclusionsWe obtained a comprehensive transcriptomic information from this work and provided a valuable resource of transcript sequences of Salvia splendens in public databases. Moreover, some candidate genes potentially involved in branching were identified. Furthermore, numerous obtained SSRs might contribute to marker-assisted selection. These data could be further utilized in functional genomics studies on Salvia splendens.

BackgroundPostoperative endocrine therapy is known to reduce recurrence and mortality in patients with estrogen receptor (ER)- or progestogen receptor (PR)-positive breast cancer. Correlates and determinants of compliance with endocrine therapy among Chinese patients with breast cancer are not known. The aim of this study was to elucidate the efficacy and adherence of endocrine therapy in China and suggest effective improvements on the adherence.Patients and methodsWe analyzed the survival of 1,110 patients eligible for endocrine therapy and adherence of 699 patients to endocrine therapy. Kaplan–Meier curves, log-rank tests and Cox proportional hazard models were used to evaluate survival, and logistic regression models were used to assess variables associated with treatment adherence.ResultsLong-term endocrine therapy was associated with lower recurrence rate (HR 0.72; 95% CI 0.56–0.93; p=0.013). Adherence to endocrine therapy was only 63.1%. Sociodemographic characteristics of patients, clinical- and medication-related characteristics and patients’ attitudes were associated with adherence to endocrine therapy.ConclusionAdherence to endocrine therapy in Chinese patients with ER+/PR+ breast cancer was <65%. Both patients and physicians should take progressive steps to improve the rate of adherence.

The present study aimed to investigate the efficacy of five signaling pathway inhibitors, N-[N-(3,5-difluorophenacetyl)-L-alanyl]-S-phenylglycine t-butyl ester, vismodegib, salinomycin, ruxolitinib and stattic, as novel therapeutic agents that target breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs) in triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). The in vitro anti-proliferative, anti-invasive, pro-apoptotic and inhibitory effects on BCSC self-renewal of these signaling pathway inhibitors on the TNBC stem cell line HCC38 were examined by MTT assays, Matrigel invasion assays, flow cytometry and suspension mammosphere assays, respectively. For the in vivo study, another TNBC stem cell line, HCC1806, pretreated with these signaling pathway inhibitors, was inoculated into female nonobese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficient mice, and the tumor volumes were measured following tumor formation. Treatment of HCC38 cells with each signaling pathway inhibitor significantly decreased TNBC cell proliferation, cell invasion and mammosphere formation while inducing cell apoptosis by inhibiting the protein expression or phosphorylation of downstream signaling molecules. In the xenograft mouse models, tumor formation and growth of HCC1806 cells pretreated with each signaling pathway inhibitor were effectively suppressed. Treatment with these signaling pathway inhibitors may provide a novel therapeutic strategy against TNBC by targeting BCSCs, thus providing promising insight for clinical applications in patients with TNBC.

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