Effect of genistein on proliferation of human breast cancer cell lines MDA-MB-453,MCF-7 and MCF-7/HER2

Objective To investigate the effect of genistein on the proliferation of breast cancer cell lines, MDA-MB-453(ER-, HER2-high), MCF-7(ER+, HER2-low), MCF-7/HER2(ER+, HER2-high), and observe the role of HER2 in the antiproliferative effect of genistein. Methods Breast cancer cell line MCF-7 highly expressing HER-2/neu was constructed by cell transfection, and the successful transfection was confirmed by immunofluorescence cytochemical technology. After treated by genistein (5, 10, 40, 70, 100, 130, 160, 190, 220 mol/L) for 48 h, the 3 cell lines were examined by MTT assay to evaluate the antiproliferative effect of genistein. Results The inhibitive effect of genistein on MDA-MB-453 was increased along with the increasing concentration of genistein, and the IC50 was 100 μmol/L. The proliferation of MCF-7/HER2 and MCF-7 were enhanced upon a low concentration of genistein, but inhibited at a higher concentration (40 μmol/L and 10 μmol/L, respectively). Conclusion Genistein could inhibit the proliferation of all 3 breast cancer cell lines within a certain range of concentration through ER-dependent or ER-independent pathways, and HER2 high-expression could attenuate the antiproliferative effect of genistein on ER positive breast cancer cells.