Atorvastatin Inhibits Viability and Migration of MCF7 Breast Cancer Cells

Abstract

Objective: Atorvastatin is commonly used as a lipid lowering drug. The emerging interest in statins as anticancer agents is based on their pleiotropic effects on cancer cells. Among the statins, atorvastatin, and in cancers, breast malignancies have received less attention in preclinical investigations. In order to enhance the efficacy of cancer treatment, adjuvant, less expensive therapeutic strategies have been recently noticed. In this case, we investigated the in-vitro effect of atorvastatin on viability and migration of MCF7 breast cancer cell line. Methods: We tested the cytotoxicity of atorvastatin on breast cancer cells survival by MTT assay. Annexin-V / PI staining and then flow cytometry of cancer cells in addition to quantitative real-time PCR tests quantified the apoptosis and necrosis of cancer cells. We figured out the impact of atorvastatin on cancer cell migration capability through scratch-wound healing assay and transwell migration examination. Inverted light microscope and fluorescent imaging displayed the morphological changes following treatment of MCF7 cells with atorvastatin. Result: We resulted that atorvastatin can trigger MCF7 cancer cells to undergo necrosis and caspase-dependent apoptosis based on the viable/dead cell number, mitotic cell cycle, gene expression, and morphological assays. The results were dose- and time-dependent and the half- maximal inhibitory concentration of atorvastatin for cancer cells’ viability inhibition was 9.1 μM/L(nM/mL). Moreover, the migration of MCF7 cells were inhibited in the treated group as we figured out in two- and three-dimensional migration methods. Conclusion: In-vitro inspection of drug-cancer cell interactions paves the way for future in-vivo research studies. These in-vitro results revealed that atorvastatin has anti-viability and anti-migration effects on breast cancer cells.

A drug repurposing approach of Atorvastatin calcium for its antiproliferative activity for effective treatment of breast cancer: In vitro and in vivo assessment

“…The in vitro cytotoxicity study for both Lf decorated and undecorated ATR Ca-SLNs was carried out on MCF-7 cells ( Abolghasemi et al, 2022 ; Gambhire et al, 2018 ) for 24 h to study the antitumor effect of ATR Ca as well as the potential of Lf as a targeting ligand on cell viability. Despite the well-established understanding that statins exhibit their anticancer effects in laboratory settings along the epithelial-mesenchymal axis, where mesenchymal cells have greater sensitivity to statins compared to epithelial or hybrid epithelial-mesenchymal tumor cells, ( van Leeuwen et al, 2022 ; Warita et al, 2014 ).…”

“…The selection for the MCF7 cell line was based on their classification as a luminal A breast cancer cell line ( Moon et al, 2020 ) which is considered the most common breast cancer molecular subtype in Egypt accounting for >42% of total breast cancer cases ( El-Hawary et al, 2012 ). Added to that, there have been previous studies in the literature that have demonstrated the antitumor effect of ATR against breast cancer using MCF7 cell lines ( Abolghasemi et al, 2022 ; Gambhire et al, 2018 ).…”

Pharmacokinetic interaction between regorafenib and atorvastatin in rats

“…As hyperlipidemia increases the risk of CRC, ATO lowers lipid concentration through complete inhibition of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl-coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase [8]. Moreover, this compound can also inhibit cancer cell proliferation, migration, and survival [9,10]. The reason for ATO interaction with other drugs also lies in its complex metabolism.…”

Effects of Atorvastatin combined with Gefitinib on proliferation, metastatic and autophagy of Colorectal cancer cells

“…As a lipid-lowering drug, Atorvastatin is widely used in clinical practice to lower cholesterol and reduce the occurrence of cardiovascular events [9,10] . In recent years, studies have shown that Atorvastatin have good anti-tumor effects in breast cancer, leukemia, liver cancer, thyroid cancer, prostate cancer and other tumors [11][12][13][14][15][16][17] . The antitumor mechanism of atorvastatin may induce malignant apoptosis and cell cycle, autophagy, and cellular stress, and reduce cell migration, thereby affecting cell proliferation and migration.…”