Inhibition of Akt phosphorylation attenuates resistance to TNF-α cytotoxic effects in MCF-7 cells, but not in their doxorubicin resistant derivatives.

Objectives: Acquisition of TNF-α resistance plays role in the onset and growth of malignant tumors. Previous studies have demonstrated that MCF-7 cell line and its doxorubicin resistant variant MCF-7/Adr are resistant against the cytotoxic effects of TNF-α. In this study, we investigated the role of Akt activation in resistance of MCF-7 and MCF-7/Adr against TNF-α cytotoxicity.

TNF-α exerts higher cytotoxic effect on MCF-7 multidrug resistant derivative, role of Akt activation.

Background: TNF-α is a pleiotropic cytokine which activates different downstream signaling pathways leading cells to death or survival. In some in vitro examinations, TNF-α treatment demonstrated higher cytotoxic effects on MDR cancer cell lines compared to their parental counterparts.

Objective: This study investigated effects of TNF-α in MCF-7 and its mitoxantrone (MX) resistant variant of breast cancer cell line, MCF-7/MX.