Vanadium mediated apoptosis and cell cycle arrest in MCF7 cell line.

Vanadium is a metal widely distributed in the environment. It is also a dietary micronutrient. It has shown insulin mimetic and chemopreventive properties and has been considered as an important pharmacological agent. In this study, we evaluated the apoptogenic role of vanadium on human breast cancer cell line MCF7. Exposure of MCF7 cells to vanadium led to the induction of apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner. Percentage of apoptosis was maximum (42.5%) at the highest non-toxic dose (250 microM). It was found that vanadium treatment brought about a prominent chromatin condensation, cell cycle arrest leading to apoptosis. These apoptosis based assays demonstrate that vanadium has the potential to be developed into an anti-cancer drug in the near future.