Tanshinone IIA attenuates the stemness of breast cancer cells via targeting the miR-125b/STARD13 axis

BACKGROUND: Tanshinone II A is an effective component extracted from Salvia miltiorrhiza and the roles of Tanshinone IIA in regulating the stemness of tumor cells remain unclear. This work aims to explore the roles and underlying mechanisms of Tanshinone IIA in breast cancer stemness. METHODS: In vitro mammary spheroid formation, flow cytometry assay on CD24(−)/CD44(+) sub-population, ALDH activity detection, cell viability assay and western blot analysis, and in vivo tumor-initiating analysis were performed to examine the effects of Tanshinone IIA on the stemness of breast cancer cells. MiRNAs-based transcriptome sequencing and data analysis, online dataset analysis, luciferase reporter assay combined with rescuing experiments were constructed to explore the underlying mechanisms. RESULTS: Tanshinone IIA attenuated the stemness of breast cancer cells, evident by downregulating the expression of stemness markers, hindering the capacity of spheroid formation, decreasing the CD24(−)/CD44(+) sub-population in a concentration-dependent manner and reducing the tumor-initiating ability of breast cancer cells. Additionally, Tanshinone IIA enhanced adriamycin sensitivity and attenuated adriamycin resistance of breast cancer cells. Combined with miRNAs-based transcriptome sequencing assay, it was found that Tanshinone IIA downregulated miR-125b level and upregulated its target gene STARD13 (StAR-related lipid transfer protein 13) level, thus inactivating the miR-125b/STARD13 axis, which had been previously confirmed to promote breast cancer progression. Notably, miR-125b overexpression enhanced the stemness of breast cancer cells, and miR-125b overexpression or STARD13 knockdown impaired the inhibitory effects of Tanshinone IIA on the stemness of breast cancer cells. CONCLUSIONS: Tanshinone IIA could attenuate the stemness of breast cancer cells via targeting the miR-125b/STARD13 axis. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s40164-022-00255-4.