Resveratrol induces the apoptosis of breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells and inhibits the expression of Bcl-2

Objective To investigate the effect of resveratrol on the proliferation and apoptosis of the breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 and the expression of Bcl-2.Methods Human breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231 cells was treated with resveratrol at different concentrations,MTT assay was used to detect the cell proliferation and flow cytometry was applied to analyze cell apoposis.The expressions of Caspase-3,Bcl-2,Bcl-xl,Mcl-1 were analysed by Western blot.Results Resveratrol inhibited the growth of MDA-MB-231 cells in a cocentration dependent manner.The inhibiting rates of the cells were(24.22±1.66)%,(30.79±1.60)%,(45.72±1.25)% and(53.31±1.94)% respectively,by different concentrations of resveratrol(25,50,100 and 200μmol/L).Annexin V-FITC/PI binding assay showed that resveratrol induced apoptosis in MDA-MB-231 cells,the apoptosis rates of the four groups(0,50,100,200μmol/L) were(3.53±0.25)%,(28.80±1.34)%,(38.78±1.19)% and(58.96±1.26)%,respectively.Western blot showed that resveratrol inhanced the activation of Caspase-3 and inhibited the expression of Bcl-2 and Bcl-xl.Conclusion Resveratrol can inhance the apoptosis of MDA-MB-231,which might be related to inhibition of the expression of Bcl-2 and Bcl-xl and to inhancing the activation of Caspase-3.