Additive effect of mifepristone and tamoxifen on apoptotic pathways in MCF-7 human breast cancer cells

MCF-7 cells growing in culture were used to study the mechanism of the antiproliferative activity of the antiprogestin mifepristone, as compared with the antiestrogen 4-hydroxytamoxifen or the combination of bath. These steroid antagonists induced a significant time- and dose-dependent cell growth inhibition (cytotoxicity). This inhibition of cell survival was associated with a significant increase in DNA fragmentation (apoptosis), downregulation of bcl(2), and induction of TGF beta(1) protein. Abrogation of the mifepristone- and/or 4-hydroxytamoxifen-induced cytotoxicity by TGF beta(1) neutralizing antibody confirms the correlation between induction of active TGF beta(1) and subsequent cell death. The effect of a combination of mifepristone and 4-hydroxytamoxifen on cell growth inhibition, on the increase in DNA fragmentation, bcl(2) downregulation, and induction of TGF beta(1) protein was additive and significantly different (P < 0.05) from the effect of monotherapy. A translocation of protein kinase C (PKC) activity from the soluble to the particulate and/or nuclear fraction appeared to be also additive in cells treated with a combination of both 4-hydroxptamoxifen and mifepristone. These results suggest that the mechanism of the additive antiproliferative activity of mifepristone and tamoxifen could be explained at least in part by an additive induction of apoptosis in both estrogen and progesterone receptor positive MCF-7 breast cancer cells. A bcl(2) downregulation, the PKC transduction pathway, and TGF beta(1) expression seem to be involved in this additive mechanism of action. Our data further suggest that a combination of an antiprogestin with tamoxifen may be more effective than tamoxifen monotherapy in the management of human breast cancer.