Investigation of potential DNA damaging and apoptotic effects of PLK1 inhibitor SBE13 in breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-231

Polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1) regulates various steps of mitosis and aberrantly expressed in severaltumor types. As elevated levels of PLK1 contributes to tumorigenesis and poor prognosis,specific inhibition of PLK1 has garnered increasing attention in recent years in anticancerstudies. The objective of this study was to examine cytotoxic, apoptotic, and DNA-damagingpotentials of SBE13, a PLK1 inhibitor, against MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. Theregulatory efficacy of SBE13 on cell cycle arrest was also determined. Cytotoxicity of SBE13was assessed via XTT assay. Apoptosis, cell cycle distribution, and DNA damage responsewere also examined using the flow cytometry assay. The results revealed that SBE13 had adose-dependent cytotoxic effect in MDA-MB-231 cells. This compound has also induced cellcycle arrest at the G2/M point and significantly promoted apoptosis and DNA damage responsein MDA-MB-231 cells. Collectively, these data pointed out that SBE13 can be regarded as asuitable candidate for the therapy of breast cancer. However, further studies are required toconsolidate the anticancer activity of SBE13.