Investigating the therapeutic effect of doxorubicin and resveratrol on MCF7 breast cancer cells

Doxorubicin (DOX), an anthracycline antibiotic, is one of the most effective anticancer agents used to treat breast cancer. Multidrug resistance is a major problem in the treatment of breast cancer, and researchers have tried to find an efficient strategy to overcome it. In this study, the synergistic anticancer effects of resveratrol (RSV) and DOX on human breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7) were investigated.

This research was conducted in 2021-2022 in Afra Laboratory (Tehran, Iran). MCF-7 breast epithelial cells were treated with concentrations of 12.5, 25, 50, 100, and 200 μg/ml RSV for 24, 48, and 72 h, and then the wells containing the cells of this group were treated with different doses of DOX (0.25, 0.5, 2.5, 1, and 5 μg/ml for 24, 48, and 72 h). Afterward, the survival rate of the cell was evaluated using MTT assay and flow cytometry methods.

The results showed that the effect of resveratrol was less than 50% after 24 hours, indicating the effective role of time. In general, the antioxidant property of resveratrol decreased with an increase in concentration, so that the highest percentage of radical inhibition was recorded at a concentration of 25 μg/ml. The percentage of inhibition by DOX was also higher than the inhibition by RSV. However, for both samples, the percentage of radical inhibition decreased with increasing concentration.

Resveratrol treatment increased the cytotoxic activity of DOX against breast cancer cell growth when administered concurrently or 24 h before DOX. These results suggested that treatment with a combination of RSV and DOX might be a useful strategy to enhance the efficacy of DOX by promoting the intracellular accumulation of DOX and reducing multidrug resistance in human breast cancer cells.