Downregulation of RBBP6 variant 1 during arsenic trioxide-mediated cell cycle arrest and curcumin-induced apoptosis in MCF-7 breast cancer cells

AIM: To determine the expression patterns of the RBBP6 spliced variants during arsenic trioxide-mediated cell cycle arrest and curcumin-induced apoptosis in MCF-7 cells. MATERIALS & METHODS: As(2)O(3) and curcumin were used to study cytotoxicity, cell cycle arrest, apoptosis and the expression of RBBP6 variants. The MUSE Cell Analyser was used to analyze cell cycle arrest, apoptosis and multicaspase activity while apoptosis was further confirmed using microscopy. Semi-quantitative RT-PCR was employed to quantitate the expression of the RBBP6 variants. RESULTS: This study showed that the MCF-7 cells expressed RBBP6 variant 1 but lacked both variant 2 and variant 3. Both As(2)O(3) and curcumin significantly downregulated RBBP6 variant 1 (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: RBBP6 variants are promising therapeutic targets.