TGF-β1 gene silencing can enhances the sensitivity of breast cancer to cisplatin partially by restraining the occurrence of EMT

Breast cancer is one of the most common gynecological malignant tumors, the main reason of treatment failure is distant metastasis and local recurrence. TGF-beta 1 as a versatile polypeptide molecule plays an important role in inducing EMT to promote tumor invasion and metastasis. This study aims to investigate the effect of TGF-beta 1 on cisplatin (DDP) inhibiting the proliferation, migration and invasion of breast cancer and its correlation with EMT. TGF-beta 1 siRNA were transfected into MCF-7 cells. The cell morphology, proliferation, migration and invasion ability changes were detected by inverted microscope, clone formation assay, cell adhesion assay and Transwell Chamber Invasion. The expression of E-cadherin, vimentin, a-SMA were detected by Western blot. The results showed that TGF-beta 1 siRNA were transfected into MCF-7 cells successfully (P<0.05). The inhibitory activity of cisplatin on cell proliferation, migration and invasion of breast cancer were significantly enhanced after TGF-beta 1 siRNA transfection (P<0.05). The expression of E-cadherin was up-regulated, and vimentin and a-SMA were down-regulated with TGF-beta 1 siRNA transfection (P<0.05). Therefore, we concluded that TGF-beta 1 gene silencing can enhance the sensitivity of breast cancer to cisplatin on proliferation, migration and invasion partially by restraining the occurrence of EMT.