Effects of estradiol, progesterone and testosterone on proliferation of human breast cancer cell lines

Abstract

Background: Steroid hormones affect the proliferation of breast cancer. The aim of this study was to test the effect of estradiol, progesterone and testosterone on MCF-7 and MDA-MB468 human breast cancer cell line. Methods and Materials: The human breast cancer cell line MCF-7 and MDA-MB468 were grown in charcoal striped serum in the presence and absence of 10 nM 17- β-estradiol with different concentration of progesterone and testosterone for 72 hrs. Growth of cells evaluated by MTT method. Results: The results demonstrated that estradiol produced an increase in the cell proliferation rate of MCF-7 cells grown in the presence of charcoal-stripped serum, but had no effect on MDAMB468 cells. While progesterone had no effect on cell growth when tested alone on both cell lines, it significantly inhibited the growth of MCF-7 cells in the presence of 10 nM estradiol. Testosterone had no effect on cell growth of MDA-MB468 cells in the presence or absence of estradiol. In MCF- 7 cells, testosterone significantly inhibited the growth of these cells in the absence or presence of estradiol. Conclusions: Proliferation of breast cancer cells are hormone dependent or hormone independent.