Suppression of Rotenone-Treated Human Breast Cancer Stem Cell Survival Using Survivin Inhibitor YM155 is Associated to Oxidative Stress Modulation

摘要

Despite recent progress in molecular-targeted therapies, breast cancer remains the primary leading cause of cancer related death among women worldwide. Breast cancer stem cells (BCSCs) are believed to be responsible for therapy resistance and cancer recurrence. We recently demonstrated that human BCSCs (CD24-/CD44+) could survive better than their counterpart non-BCSCs (CD24-/CD44-) when treated with rotenone, possibly due to lower levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, high expression of antioxidant manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD), and anti-apoptotic survivin. The aim of this study was to verify the role of survivin on human BCSCs survival under oxidative stress modulation by suppressing its expression using YM155, a survivin inhibitor.