THE EFFECT OF QUINACRINE ON THE EXPRESSION OF WNT3A GENE IN MDA-MB 231 AND MCF7 BREAST CANCER CELL LINES

Triple-negative breast cancer cells refer to any breast cancer that does not express the genes for the estrogen, progesterone, and HER2 receptors. The Wnt signaling pathway is important in the development and progression of various types of cancers. Quinacrine, a derivative of 9-aminoacridine, has been shown to inhibit the growth of several types of cancer cells. In this study, we examined the effect of Quinacrine on Wnt3a gene of Wnt signaling pathway in breast cancer cell lines MDA-MB 231 and MCF7. MDA-MB 231 cell line has triple-negative breast cancer cell properties.

Breast cancer cell lines, MDA-MB 231 and MCF7, were treated with 0.5 µM Quinacrine for 3 days. The dose was selected using the MTT assay. The expression of Wnt3a gene was quantified by Real-time PCR. Significance of observations was checked by means of appropriate statistical methods using p<0.05 as the level of significance.

Quinacrine did not have a meaningful effect on Wnt3a gene expression on the MDA-MB 231 cell line (p = 0.34) in 0.5 µM concentration for 72 hours, but a decrease in Wnt3a gene expression of 1.3 times was observed in MCF7 cell line (p < 0.05).

The Wnt3a gene is important in the Wnt signaling pathway and the present study demonstrated that Quinacrine could not affect the expression of this gene in the MDA-MB 231 cell line, however in the MCF7 cell line, a decrease in the Wnt3a gene expression was observed.