CT20p induced autophagy in breast cancer cells can be overcome by co‐treatment with 3‐methyladenine to maximize cell death

Abstract

Triple‐negative breast cancer is an aggressive form of cancer that is highly resistant to current treatments and has a high rate of recurrence. The CT20p peptide is a novel therapeutic that can target and kill triple‐negative breast cancer cells. In this study, we investigated one of the biological effects of CT20p in MDA‐MB‐231 triple negative breast cancer cell. We discovered that as a result of CT20p's inhibition of essential cellular processes, such as cell attachment, autophagy, as protective response, was induced. Thus, we sought to determine if inhibiting the autophagic process could accelerate and enhance the cell killing ability of CT20p. As proof in principle, combination of the autophagy inhibitor 3‐methyladenine together with CT20p increased the amount of cell death among MDA‐MB‐231 cells compared to CT20p alone, indicating that simultaneous targeting of the autophagy pathway is a viable method to maximize cell death via CT20p.