Tumor suppressor berberine binds VASP to inhibit cell migration in basal-like breast cancer.

// Ke Su 1, * , Pengchao Hu 2, * , Xiaolan Wang 3 , Changchun Kuang 4 , Qingmin Xiang 2 , Fang Yang 5 , Jin Xiang 6 , Shan Zhu 7 , Lei Wei 2 , Jingwei Zhang 8 1 Department of Nephrology, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, P. R. China 2 Department of Pathophysiology, School of Medicine, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, P. R. China 3 Department of Pathology, Shanghai First People’s Hospital, Shanghai 200080, P. R. China 4 Department of Pharmacy, Wuhan General Hospital of Guangzhou Command, Wuhan 430070, P. R. China 5 Department of Plant Science, College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, P. R. China 6 Department of Pharmacology, College of Pharmacy, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, P. R. China 7 Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430060, P. R. China 8 Department of Oncology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan 430071, P. R. China * These authors have contributed equally to this work Correspondence to: Jingwei Zhang, email: zjwzhang68@hotmail.com Keywords: berberine, basal-like subtype breast cancer, VASP, polymerization Received: October 23, 2015     Accepted: May 29, 2016     Published: June 13, 2016 ABSTRACT Berberine is a plant-derived compound used in traditional Chinese medicine, which has been shown to inhibit cell proliferation and migration in breast cancer. On the other hand, vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein (VASP) promotes actin filament elongation and cell migration. We previously showed that VASP is overexpressed in high-motility breast cancer cells. Here we investigated whether the anti-tumorigenic effects of berberine are mediated by binding VASP in basal-like breast cancer. Our results show that berberine suppresses proliferation and migration of MDA-MB-231 cells as well as tumor growth in MDA-MB-231 nude mouse xenografts. We also show that berberine binds to VASP, inducing changes in its secondary structure and inhibits actin polymerization. Our study reveals the mechanism underlying berberine’s inhibition of cell proliferation and migration in basal-like breast cancer, highlighting the use of berberine as a potential adjuvant therapeutic agent.