Abstract 2598: Dietary compounds EGCG and sulforaphane differentially reactivate ER-α in African American and Caucasian breast cancer cells

• Published in: Cancer research (Chicago, Ill.) Ill.), 2013-04, Vol.73 (8_Supplement), p.2598-2598
• Main Authors: Hardy, Tabitha M., Babatunde, Olayode O., Tollofsbol, Trygve O.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0008-5472; 1538-7445
• DOI: 10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-2598

Breast cancer will affect 1 out of 8 women in their lifetimes and is one of the leading causes of cancer death among women of all races. African American (AA) women, in particular, have a higher breast cancer mortality rate than women of other ethnicities, revealing a clear ethnic disparity. Additionally, AA women tend to have larger, more aggressive tumors and are more likely to be diagnosed with estrogen receptor-α (ER-α)- negative and triple negative breast cancers. While sSocio-economic, cultural and environmental factors are thought to contribute to these disparitiess; however, the extent these aspects play in influencing tumor growth and development is not clearly defined. We sought to address the important question pertaining to the relative contribution of diet in breast cancer disparities and epigenetic modifications. We determined theTo do so we observed the effects of bioactive dietary compounds, (−)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), found in green tea, and sulforaphane (SFN), found cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli sprouts and cauliflower, on breast cancer cells. In order to determine whether ethnicity played a role in these effects breast cancer cells derived from AA and Caucasian (CAU) women that were treated separately or in combination with EGCG and/or SFN. Cell lines were evaluated for cell viability, cellular responses and expression of several genes including ER-α and those associated with epigenetic modifications. We found that AA breast cancer cells displayed distinct variations in response to ECGG and SFN treatments when compared to CAU cell lines. In particular,Specifically, AA-derived cell lines had a delayed ER-α reactivation at a higher dose than did CAU cells. Further, differential expression of several epigenetic modifiers and cancer-related genes was observed in AA cells. These results support the hypothesis that differences variations in gene expression in AA women with breast cancer may be influenced by diet and that innate biological variances based on ethnicity may contribute to these dissimilarities. Citation Format: Tabitha M. Hardy, Olayode O. Babatunde, Trygve O. Tollofsbol. Dietary compounds EGCG and sulforaphane differentially reactivate ER-α in African American and Caucasian breast cancer cells. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2598. doi:10.1158