Pathways through which a regimen of melatonin and retinoic acid induces apoptosis in MCF-7 human breast cancer cells

It has been established that melatonin (Mlt) and retinoic acid, individually, inhibit the proliferation of the estrogen receptor-alpha (ER alpha)-positive MCF-7 breast cancer cell line. Our laboratory has previously demonstrated that Mlt and all-trans-retinoic acid (atRA) not only inhibit the proliferation, but also induce apoptosis of MCF-7 cells when used in a sequential regimen of Mlt followed 24 h later by atRA. Using this same MCF-7 breast cancer cell line, we investigated the potential pathways through which apoptosis is being induced. We found that treatment of MCF-7 cells with Mlt for 24 h before the addition of atRA decreased the protein levels of the death suppressor, Bcl-2, and increased, although with different time courses, the levels of the death promoters, Bax and Bak; however, there was no change in the levels of the tumor suppressor gene, p53. MCF-7 cells treated sequentially with Mlt and atRA also demonstrated an enhanced sensitivity to the apoptotic effects of atRA, which did not appear to be due to increased expression of the retinoic acid receptors, RAR alpha or RXR alpha, but rather to enhanced transcriptional activity of the RAR alpha. These data suggest that the sequential treatment regimen of Mlt and atRA may induce apoptosis by modulation of members of the Bcl-2 family of proteins. Thus, this combinatorial regimen, which reduces the concentration of atRA needed for clinical efficacy while enhancing its anti-tumorigenic activity, could be of great therapeutic benefit, and may, in fact, specifically induce the regression of established breast tumors due to its apoptosis-promoting effects.