Blockage of AMPK-ULK1 pathway mediated autophagy promotes cell apoptosis to increase doxorubicin sensitivity in breast cancer (BC) cells: an in vitro study

BACKGROUND: Activation of autophagy flux contributed to resistance of breast cancer (BC) cells to current chemotherapeutic drugs, which seriously limited their therapeutic efficacy and facilitated BC recurrence in clinic. However, the detailed mechanisms are still not fully understood. In the present study, we identified that inactivation of AMPK-ULK1 signaling cascade mediated protective autophagy sensitized BC cells to doxorubicin in vitro. METHODS: Cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8) assay and colony formation assay were performed to evaluate cell proliferation abilities. Trypan blue staining assay was used to examine cell viability, and Annexin V-FITC/PI double staining method was conducted to determine cell apoptosis. The autophagosomes in BC cells were observed and photographed by electronic microscope (EM). Western Blot analysis was employed to examine genes expressions at protein levels. RESULTS: The parental doxorubicin-sensitive BC (DS-BC) cells were exposed to increasing concentrations of doxorubicin to establish doxorubicin-resistant BC (DR-BC) cells, and the DR-BC cells were much more resistant to high-dose doxorubicin treatment compared to the DS-BC cells. Interestingly, high-dose doxorubicin specifically increased LC3B-II/I ratio, promoted autophagosomes formation and decreased p62 expression levels to facilitate autophagy in DR-BC cells, instead of DS-BC cells, and the autophagy inhibitor 3-methyladenine (3-MA) enhanced the cytotoxic effects of high-dose doxorubicin on DR-BC cells. In addition, we proved that high-dose doxorubicin triggered protective autophagy in DR-BC cells by activating AMPK-ULK1 pathway. Functionally, high-dose doxorubicin increased the expression levels of phosphorylated AMPK (p-AMPK) and ULK1 (p-ULK1) to activate AMPK-ULK1 pathway in DR-BC cells, and the inhibitors for AMPK (compound C) and ULK1 (SBI-0206965) blocked autophagy to promote cell death and slow down cell growth in DR-BC cells treated with high-dose doxorubicin. CONCLUSIONS: Collectively, our in vitro data indicated that blockage of AMPK-ULK1 signaling cascade mediated protective autophagy might be a promising strategy to increase doxorubicin sensitivity for BC treatment. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12885-021-07901-w.