COLO-704

Comparative Immunofluorescent Analysis of Estrogen Receptor Beta Expression in Ovarian and Breast Cancer Cell Lines

Although the target of tamoxifen in breast cancer is estrogen receptor α (ERα), the target of tamoxifen in ovarian cancer is still unknown. Estrogen receptor β (ERβ) is a cell signaling and proliferation transcription factor, and its expression level in ovarian cancer tissues is higher than the level of ERα. But data on the comparison of ERβ expression in ovarian and breast cancer cell lines are absent. Therefore, Bougsh et al. are devoted to the quantitative evaluation of ERβ expression in ovarian cancer cell lines (COLO-704, OVCAR-3, EFO-21, SK-OV-3) and its comparison with the breast cancer cell line MCF-7 using immunofluorescence and flow cytometry. In general, ERβ expression was observed in all cell cultures, and no significant differences in the level of this receptor expression between MCF-7 breast cancer cell line and ovarian cancer cell cultures were found. The expression of ERβ was 88% in MCF-7 cells, and 89, 88, 91 and 90% in SK-OV-3, OVCAR-3, EFO-21 and COLO-704 cells, respectively (Fig. 1). Thus, all studied cell cultures had high levels of ERβ expression. But the degree of expression of this receptor is different. The typical result of one experiment is shown in Fig. 2. Only the ovarian cancer cell line COLO-704 had the degree of ERβ expression similar to MCF-7, being only 1.3 times lower. The SK-OV-3, EFO-21 and OVCAR-3 cell lines had 2.7, 1.4 and 1.9 times higher ERβ expression levels than MCF-7, respectively.

Miyabeacin: A New Cyclodimer Presents a Potential Role for Willow in Cancer Therapy

Willow (Salix spp.) is a well-known source of medicinal compounds, including salicin, the precursor to aspirin. Here, Ward et al. report the isolation and structure determination of a cyclodimeric salicinoid, miyabeacin, from S. miyabeana and S. dasyclados, and its anti-cancer activity. They screened this compound for its anti-cancer activity. Miyabeacin was tested on a range of cancer cell lines including MYCN-amplified neuroblastoma (UKF-NB-3) and its vincristine resistant sub-line (UKF-NB-3rVCR10). At a concentration of 20 µg/mL, it reduced the number of viable cells to 0% and 4.22 ± 2.89% in UKF-NB-3 and UKF-NB-3rVCR10, respectively, after 120 hours. They also derived IC₅₀ values for neuroblastoma (UKF-NB-3), breast (BT-474, MCF-7), oesophageal (COLO-680N) and ovarian cancers (COLO-704, EFO-21) (Fig. 3). These were in the range 2.19-27.04 µg/mL. Fully replicated IC50 data for three selected cell lines are presented in Figure 4. The mean IC₅₀ values were 14.47 ± 5.69 µg/mL (UKF-NB-3), 23.87 ± 19.93 µg/mL (COLO-680N) and 34.45 ± 12.58 µg/mL (COLO-704).