Inhibitory Effects of Cichorium Intybus Root Extract on the Proliferation and Lipogenesis of the SKBR3 Cells

Fatty acid synthase (FASN) is a key enzyme in de novo lipogenesis pathway. FASN overexpression is a common feature of many human cancers like breast cancer. Furthermore, FASN expression in HER2 - positive cell lines like SKBR3 is more than other cell lines, such as MCF - 7, which are not HER2 - positive. Cichorium intybus is a medicinal herb and methanolic extract of this plant significantly suppressed cell viability and growth in some cancer cells.
In this study, we aimed at investigating the effect of methanolic extract of Cichorium intybus on the FASN expression and, therefore, lipogenesis pathway in human breast cancer SKBR3 cell line.
We assessed the cytotoxicity effect of Chicorium intybus on the cell viability of SKBR3 cells, using MTT assay. In addition, apoptosis rate was assessed by annexinV/PI flow cytometry. Finally, Real time q - PCR was used for the analysis of FASN gene expression.
The results showed that the methanolic extract of Cichorium intybus caused a dose - dependent decrease in the cell viability of SKBR3 cells. Additionally, the treatment of confluent SKBR3 cells with extract led to reduced FASN expression at mRNA level.
These results suggest that Chicorium intybus not only inhibits cell viability in a dose - dependent manner, but also presumably inhibits lipogenesis by markedly decreased FASN expression as a key lipogenic enzyme.