Ivermectin inhibits ER, HER2, and TGF-β pathways in ER-positive and endocrine-resistant breast cancer cells
Fig 2
IVM inhibited estrogen-induced cell proliferation in ER⁺ breast cancer cell lines: MCF-7 and T-47D.
MTT assay measured cell viability of ER-positive breast cancer cells: (A) MCF-7 and (B) T-47D, were treated with (+E2) or without (−E2) 17β-estradiol at physiologic level (10 nM E2) in the presence of nontoxic concentrations of IVM (1, 3, 5 μM) or 4-OHT (5, 10 μM) as a positive control for 5 days. (C–E) The inhibitory effect of IVM on ERα and HER2 protein levels of ER-positive breast cancer was performed after the treatments with various concentrations of IVM with (+E2) or without (−E2) 17β-estradiol (10 nM E2) for 24 h in MCF-7. (F) mRNA expression of the ESR1 gene (ERα) was determined by qPCR analysis in MCF-7 cells. The graphs showed the mean ± SEM. The blue and red asterisks highlight the significant differences in comparison to non-treatment without (−E2) and with (+E2), respectively. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001, ****p < 0.0001 versus the non-treatment control (n = 3).