Verbascoside induces the cell cycle arrest and apoptosis of breast cancer via suppression of the PI3K/AKT signaling pathway

Despite the continuous progression in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, the prognosis of breast cancer patients is still not optimistic. Verbascoside (VER), a pharmacologically active extract of Cistanche is proved possessing anti-cancer activities. Our study was aimed to investigate the anti-proliferation activities of VER and to explore the underlying mechanism in breast cancer MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells. Our work evidenced that the anti-proliferation activity of VER in breast cancer cells may associate with cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. VER treatment dose-dependently altered the expression of cell cycle and apoptosis related proteins. CyclinB1, Cdc2, Bcl-2 and surviving were decreased, while cleaved PARP1, BAX, and cleaved caspase3/9 were increased. Mechanistically, VER suppressed the activity of PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. Our experimental data suggests that VER might be an effective and low toxicity drug against breast cancer.