Effects of CLA on growth and apoptosis of mammary cancer cell line SKBr3

    YU Fang, WANG Feng, GAO Shuangª²Bin, SHI Yongª²Liang, JI Aiª²Ling

    Department of Nutrition & Food Hygiene, School of Preventive Medicine, Fourth Military Medical University, Xi¬ðan 710033, China

    ¡¾Abstract¡¿ AIM: To compare the effects of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and linoleic acid (LA) on the growth of SKBr3 cells. METHODS: The growth of the cells was examined by cell counting method and cell morphological changes were detected under electron microscope. The cell cycle was investigated by flow cytometry and ERK1/2 and pª²ERK1/2 were detected by Western blotting. RESULTS: CLA inhibited the proliferation of SKBr3 cells significantly in a dose and timeª²dependent manner. Five days after treatment with CLA at the dose of 200, 100 and 50 ¦Ìmol/L, the inhibitory rates were 75.0%, 57.9% and 33.1%, respectively. The inhibitory rates of LA groups were 38.4%, 25.4% and 10.1%. Electron microscopy revealed that cell apoptosis was observed in CLA groups but such changes were not detected in LA groups. Flow cytometry showed that the cell cycle of SKBr3 cells might be inhibited in G1 period by CLA and Western blotting indicated that CLA significantly decreased phosphorylation of ERK1/2. CONCLUSION: The inhibition of SKBr3 cells by CLA may influence the ERK1/2 signaling pathway. ......