Different points of action of retinoids and anti-estrogens in G1 phase identified in synchronized T-47D breast cancer cells

Both retinoids and anti-estrogens inhibit breast cancer cell proliferation with accumulation of cells in the G₁ phase of the cell cycle, but the effect of retinoids is delayed compared to that of anti-estrogens. To determine whether this temporal difference is due to a simple delay in the action of retinoids on a common site or to different sites of action within the G₁ phase, we studied the cell cycle effects of retinoic acid (RA) and the anti-estrogen ICI 164384 (ICI) in T-47D cells partially synchronized by mevalonic acid rescue of lovastatin-induced cell cycle arrest. We found that cells entering the cell cycle semi-synchronously after mevalonic acid rescue of lovastatin treatment were immediately susceptible to ICI but not RA. This suggests that RA may act at a point up-stream and ICI at a point down-stream of lovastatin action. Consistent with this, cells recommencing cell cycle progression after RA treatment were susceptible to the effects of lovastatin, while cells pre-treated with ICI then rescued with estradiol were not. In addition, cells rescued from cell cycle arrest induced by either RA, ICI or lovastatin entered S phase with the same kinetics. Our findings suggest, first, that within G₁, RA acts before and ICI acts after the point of lovastatin action and, second, that despite these differences in the initiation of cell cycle arrest, the final nature of the cell cycle arrest is similar. Hence, retinoids and anti-estrogens may be expected to target different cell cycle-regulatory molecules to initiate cell cycle arrest, while overcoming this arrest may be accomplished by the activation of a common molecular pathway. Int. J. Cancer, 70:291–296, 1997. © 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.