External Qi of Yan Xin Qigong Induces apoptosis and inhibits migration and invasion of estrogen-independent breast cancer cells through suppression of Akt/NF-kB signaling.

Yan X, Shen H, Jiang H, Hu D, Zhang C, Wang J, Wu X.

Chongqing Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chongqing.

Abstract

The antitumor effects of external Qi of Yan Xin Qigong (YXQ-EQ) have been widely described over the past three decades. To gain a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying YXQ-EQ's antitumor effects, in the present study we investigated its effects on growth, migration, invasion and apoptosis of breast cancer cells and the underlying molecular mechanisms. We show that YXQ-EQ treatment caused a time-dependent reduction in viability, blocked clonogenic growth and induced apoptosis in estrogen-independent breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells. Furthermore, YXQ-EQ treatment blocked migration and invasion of MDA-MB-231 cells. Biochemically, YXQ-EQ treatment markedly inhibited constitutive and EGF-induced Akt phosphorylation. YXQ-EQ also substantially repressed NF-kappaB activity, resulting in decreased expression of anti-apoptotic Bcl-2, Bcl-X(L), XIAP and survivin proteins. These findings suggest that YXQ-EQ may induce apoptosis and inhibition of migration and invasion of MDA-MB-231 cells through the repression of Akt/NF-kappaB signaling.

PMID: 20110687 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]