Advances in the study of norcantharidin as agent for triple negative breast cancer treatment

LIZETH ARIZA; ALDANA SCHEY; LUCIANA CAÑONERO; ANDRES BECHIS; DIEGO BRITEZ NEIRA; LAURA B. TODARO; ALEJANDRO J. URTREGER

Mar del Plata

Congreso; LXVII Reunión Científica de la Sociedad Argentina de Investigación Clínica (SAIC); 2022

Sociedad Argentina de Investigación Clínica (SAIC)

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) has a very aggressive clinical course lacking specific therapies since they do not express estrogen or progesterone receptors, neither overexpress HER2. Therefore, new strategies for the treatment of this pathology are required.The Norcantharidin (NCTD) is a demethylated form of cantharidin an active constituent of Mylabris beetle, which has less systemic cytotoxicity. Although it can inhibit lung and liver tumor progression, its effect on TNBC has not been studied yet.In the present work we have evaluated the effect of NCTD on human (HS578T) and murine (4T1) TNBC progression. Previously we could determine that NCTD exhibits a significant antiproliferative effect, with an inhibitory concentration 50 of 56 and 35 µM for HS578T and 4T1 cells respectively, obtained by MTS assay. This effect was consequence of a sustained induction of the apoptotic process determined by fluorescence microscopy with acridine orange/BrEt staining, flow cytometry using Annexin V/IP (p