Sulforaphane-Induced Cell Mitotic Delay and Inhibited Cell Proliferation via Regulating CDK5R1 Upregulation in Breast Cancer Cell Lines

Our research has revealed that sulforaphane (SFN) has chemopreventive properties and could be used in chemotherapy treatments. Further investigation is needed to understand the mechanisms behind sulforaphane’s (SFN) antitumor activity in breast adenocarcinoma, as observed in our studies. This research looked into the effects of SFN on mitosis delay and cell cycle progression in MDA-MB-231 and ZR-75-1 cells, two types of triple-negative breast cancer adenocarcinoma.The proliferation of the cancer cells after SFN exposure was evaluated using MTT assay, DNA content and cell cycle arrest induction by flow cytometry, and expressions of cdc25c, CDK1, cyclin B1 and CDK5R1 were assessed through qRT-PCR and Western blot analysis. SFN was found to inhibit the growth of cancer cells. The accumulation of G2/M-phase cells in SFN-treated cells was attributed to CDK5R1. The disruption of the CDC2/cyclin B1 complex suggested that SFN may have antitumor effects on established breast adenocarcinoma cells. Our findings suggest that, in addition to its chemopreventive properties, SFN could be used as an anticancer agent for breast cancer, as it was found to inhibit growth and induce apoptosis of cancer cells.