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The Puzzling Issue of ‘Vehicle‐Treated Control’ when Using Ethanol as Drug Carrier for MCF‐7 Cells |
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| Authors: | Robbie Yat‐Kan Chan Kenneth Ka‐Ho Lee Wai‐Yeung Wong Johnny Cheuk‐On Tang Kim‐Hung Lam Chor‐Hing Cheng Fung‐Yi Lau Stanton Hon‐Lung Kok Roberto Gambari Chung‐Hin Chui |
| Institution: | 1. Programme of Food Science and Technology, Division of Science and Technology, Beijing Normal University‐Hong Kong Baptist University United International College, , Zhuhai, China;2. MOE Key Laboratory for Regenerative Medicine, School of Biomedical Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, , Hong Kong, China;3. Clinical Division, School of Chinese Medicine and Department of Chemistry, Hong Kong Baptist University, , Hong Kong, China;4. Department of Applied Biology and Chemical Technology, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, , Hong Kong, China;5. Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, , Hong Kong, China;6. Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, University of Ferrara, , Ferrara, Italy |
| Abstract: | Ethanol has been commonly used as a vehicle for drug discovery purpose in vitro. The human breast cancer MCF‐7 estrogen dependent cell line is a common in vitro model used for hormonal therapy study. However, special precaution is suggested when ethanol is used in pharmacological tests as solvent in order to evaluate the biological activity of potential drugs especially concerning about the MCF‐7. Ethanol was shown to stimulate the proliferation of this estrogen receptor positive cell line. Here, we have further demonstrated that the dose responsive stimulatory effect of ethanol on the MCF‐7 cells after pre‐incubating the breast carcinoma cells with phenol red‐free medium and stripped fetal bovine serum. Our findings open a discussion for the evaluation of ethanol as solvent for drug discovery and screening when using MCF‐7 cells as a testing model. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
| Keywords: | ethanol MCF‐7 cells proliferation vehicle |