Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide inhibits the metastasis of breast cancer to the lungs by inhibiting epithelial–mesenchymal transition

Ning Li,Yue Pan,Yang Chen,Yongjie Yang,Shuhan Lyu

doi:10.32604/biocell.2022.018278

Abstract

Breast cancer is a highly aggressive cancer in females. Metastasis is a major obstacle to the efficient and successful treatment of breast cancer. Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) has anti-tumor effects on a variety of tumors. We showed that CTAB inhibits the metastasis of breast cancer to the lungs both in vitro and in vivo. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is thought to be one of the major processes mediating breast cancer metastasis. We found that CTAB suppressed EMT and regulated the levels of the classical EMT markers E-cadherin, N-cadherin, vimentin, Snail and Twist1. Moreover, as a candidate anti-tumor agent, CTAB showed primary safety in vivo. Taken together, our results suggest that CTAB inhibits the migration of primary breast cancer to the lungs. Our findings confirm the clinical potential of CTAB for the treatment of breast cancer by targeting EMT. CTAB may thus be a promising novel anti-tumor drug for the treatment of breast cancer metastasis.

Highlights

Breast cancer is one of the most common neoplasms in women, and it has high potential for metastasis (Liang et al, 2020)
Cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) inhibited the metastasis of breast cancer cells in vitro Our previous study showed that CTAB is an anti-cancer agent against various types of cancer
Wound-healing assays showed that the breast cancer cells spread slower to the wound area when they were treated for 24 h with non-toxic concentrations of CTAB (MCF-7 cells, 8.23 × 10−4 mM CTAB; MDA-MB-231 cells, 20.6 × 10−4 mM CTAB; 4T1 cells, 5.21 × 10−4 mM CTAB; Figs. 1A–1C)

Summary

Introduction

Breast cancer is one of the most common neoplasms in women, and it has high potential for metastasis (Liang et al, 2020). The mortality rate is high in breast cancer patients due to metastasis and relapse (Rios Garcia et al, 2017). There are treatments available, such as surgery, chemotherapy and hormone therapy, breast cancer remains typified by a poor prognosis (Shah et al, 2018). Developing new therapies targeting metastasis is necessary to improve breast cancer outcomes. The transition between epithelial cells and mesenchymallike cells occurs via a process known as epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) (Gordan et al, 2007; Greenburg and Hay, 1982; Yang et al, 2019). It is believed that the EMT process confers malignancy to tumors and that the activation of EMT may initiate an invasion-metastasis cascade. EMT is closely related to the invasion and metastasis of a variety of cancers.

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