Effects of sulforaphane on three tumor cell lines and one normal cell line.

Abstract

Sulforaphane (SFN) is an isothiocyanate found largely in cruciferous vegetables, which has been shown to have anti‐cancer effects, including the induction of apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. We tested the effects of SFN on three different cancer cell lines: HTB‐4, derived from a bladder cancer, MDA‐MB‐435, likely derived from a melanoma, and HL‐60, derived from a promyelocytic leukemia and one normal fibroblast cell line, MRC‐5. We found different abilities of SFN to induce apoptosis and arrest the cell cycle for the three cancer cell lines. HL‐60 cells were most sensitive to the SFN treatment, followed by HTB‐4 cells, while MDA‐MB‐435 cells were the least affected by SFN. Our results for the MRC‐5 cells showed that SFN was less toxic to them compared to the other three cancer cell lines. To investigate whether the drug resistance could be induced to SFN, we are testing HL‐60 cells that are exposed to SFN at low doses to see how easily resistance is generated but that has proven to be challenging and something we continue to work on. We conclude that the different sensitivities of these four cell lines to SFN are consistent with the heterogeneity of different cancers and may indicate an increased sensitivity of tumor cells to SFN. If we are unable to development SFN resistance in HL‐60 or any of the other tumor cell lines it would have better therapeutic potential, especially if normal cells are more resistant.