Abstract

Background: The incidence and deaths from breast cancer represent the most cause of all cancer deaths among women. Lycopene, the carotenoid in tomatoes has been associated with decreasing risk of prostate, breast, and digestive tract cancers. Various mechanisms of lycopene action have been proposed, including antioxidant activity and pro-differentiation activities. Identifying changes in the expression of proteins modified by lycopene can provide information to study the modulating effects of lycopene carcinogenesis and tumorigenesis development.

Objective: The objective was to study the anti-proliferative effects of lycopene on MCF- 7 human breast cancer cells and to identify changes in protein expression patterns.

Method: This in-vitro study used cultured MCF-7 breast cancer cells and MCF-10 normal breast cells, which were treated with 0,2,4,6,8 and 10 μM lycopene media solution prepared from 2 mM stock solution of pure crystalline lycopene in tetrahydrofuran. MTT tetrazolium reduction assay measured cell proliferation, and 2-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis was used to measure protein expression.

Results: MTT absorbance show increasing concentrations of lycopene had a significant inhibitory effect only on MCF-7 cells (p < 0.0001). Lycopene produced changes in protein expression patterns in a concentration dependent manner. Cytokeratin-19 was identified and showed up-regulation of post-translational processing in the MCF-10 cells in response to lycopene.

Conclusions: Lycopene significantly inhibited MCF-7 breast cancer cell growth. The two cell lines responded differently to lycopene treatment, and lycopene altered the level of expression and post-translational status of specific proteins.

Department

Nutrition

School

Graduate School

First Advisor

Sujatha Rajaram

Second Advisor

Benjamin Lau

Third Advisor

Padma Uppala

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Degree Level

M.S.

Year Degree Awarded

2004

Date (Title Page)

6-2004

Language

English

Library of Congress/MESH Subject Headings

Breast Neoplasms; Breast Neoplasms -- prevention & control; Carotenoids; Anticarcinogenic Agents.

Type

Thesis

Page Count

viii; 68

Digital Format

PDF

Digital Publisher

Loma Linda University Libraries

Usage Rights

This title appears here courtesy of the author, who has granted Loma Linda University a limited, non-exclusive right to make this publication available to the public. The author retains all other copyrights.

Collection

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Collection Website

http://scholarsrepository.llu.edu/etd/

Repository

Loma Linda University. Del E. Webb Memorial Library. University Archives

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