Transcriptomic analysis of icariin in breast cancer cells
Icariin could significantly impair viability and induce apoptosis in 4T1
and MDA-MB-231 cells but has little effect on human mammary epithelium
cell MCF-10A. To gain insight into the molecular mechanism of selective
function of icariin, we utilized transcriptomics data to study effects
of icariin on MDA-MB-231 and MCF-10A cells. As shown in Fig. 5A, the
expression profiles of treated MDA-MB-231 cells is different with that
of untreated MDA-MB-231 cells. In MCF-10A cells, there are no
significant difference between treated and untreated groups. Moreover,
after treatment with icariin, changes of transcriptome in MDA-MB-231
cells are distinctly different with MCF-10A cells. Subsequently, for the
purpose of determining molecular pathways associated with icariin, we
performed KEGG analysis for signal pathway (Fig. 5B and C). Results of
KEGG analysis revealed significant enrichment for tumor cells apoptosis,
migration and invasion related signaling pathways, especially NF-κB and
TNF. Furthermore, well-characterized genes which participate in NF-κB
and TNF were significantly downregulated after treatment with icariin
(Fig. 5D). However, after treated with icariin, NF-κB related genes in
MCF-10A cells were almost unchanged. Transcriptomic analysis suggested
that icariin impairs activity of NF-κB signaling pathway by
downregulating NF-κB related genes so that selectively induces apoptosis
and suppresses migration and invasion in MDA-MB-231 cells.