Arctigenin inhibits human breast cancer cell proliferation, migratory and invasive abilities and epithelial to mesenchymal transition by targeting 4EBP1

Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most common types of cancer with the highest morbidity rate amongst all cancers in women worldwide. Arctigenin is isolated from the seeds of Asteraceae lappa and exhibits anti-inflammatory and anti-viral effects. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of arctigenin on BC cells and to explore the regulation of arctigenin on eukaryotic translation initiation factor 4E binding protein 1 (4EBP1) expression. To do so, MDA-MB-231 and BT549 cells were treated with arctigenin at various concentrations (0, 5, 10, 20 and 40 µM). Cells treated with 40 µM arctigenin were transfected with pcDNA3.1-4EBP1 or NC control. Cell Counting Kit-8 assay was used to determine cell proliferation, reverse transcription quantitative PCR was used to evaluate the transfection efficiency, western blotting was used to detect relative protein expression and Transwell assays were performed to evaluate the migratory and invasive abilities of BC cells. The results demonstrated that arctigenin could inhibit the proliferation, migratory and invasive abilities, and epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) of MDA-MB-231 and BT549 cells. Furthermore, arctigenin downregulated the expression of 4EBP1 in MDA-MB-231 and BT549 cells, whereas 4EBP1 overexpression could reverse the inhibiting effect of arctigenin on proliferation, migratory and invasive abilities, and EMT in MDA-MB-231 and BT549 cells. The findings suggested that arctigenin may inhibit human BC cell proliferation, migratory and invasive abilities, and EMT by targeting 4EBP1.