Effects of Jacalin- a galactose binding lectin on MDA-MB-468, a triple-negative breast cancer cell line, and its combinatorial effect with taxol

Abstract

Abstract Plant lectins have been well established to show the affect on the proliferation in different human cancer cells. The anti-proliferative potential of lectins have been ubiquitously investigated from diverse sources and, the basic mechanism has been explored in an elaborated index. In our study, we observed anti-proliferative efficacy of Jacalin (a purified lectin from jackfruit (Artocarpus integrifolia) seeds in MDA-MB-468, a triple-negative breast cancer cell line. This effect was explored in a dose dependent manner. The cells were treated with Jacalin at different time points (6hr and 12hr) and thereafter the recovery in cell propagation was also observed after which the jacalin media was aspirated. Thus, Jacalin was considered as to possess reversible effects on MDA-MB-468 cells. On the other side, Jacalin did not pose the effect in proliferation cascade in PBMCs, taken as primary cell line control. Galactose is well recognized ligands of Jacalin and its pre-incubation could neutralize the effect. Furthermore, MDA-MB-468 cells were also treated with Jacalin in combination with increasing concentration of taxol, keeping jacalin concentration constant (40µg/ml). Taxol at the concentration of 930 nM in combination with jacalin achieved the similar kind of anti-proliferative effect that was observed with 30 µM of taxol. Thus the taxol concentration could be reduced if given in combination of jacalin, preventing the side effect of taxol due to higher dose.