Benzyl isothiocyanate inhibits epithelial-mesenchymal transition in cultured and xenografted human breast cancer cells.

We showed previously that cruciferous vegetable constituent benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC) inhibits growth of cultured and xenografted human breast cancer cells and suppresses mammary cancer development in a transgenic mouse model. We now show, for the first time, that BITC inhibits epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) in human breast cancer cells. Exposure of estrogen-independent MDA-MB-231 and estrogen-responsive MCF-7 human breast cancer cell lines and a pancreatic cancer cell line (PL-45) to BITC resulted in upregulation of epithelial markers (e.g., E-cadherin and/or occludin) with a concomitant decrease in protein levels of mesenchymal markers, including vimentin, fibronectin, snail, and/or c-Met. The BITC-mediated induction of E-cadherin protein was accompanied by an increase in its transcription, whereas BITC-treated MDA-MB-231 cells exhibited suppression of vimentin, snail, and slug mRNA levels. Experimental EMT induced by exposure to TGFβ and TNFα or Rb knockdown in a spontaneously immortalized nontumorigenic human mammary epithelial cell line (MCF-10A) was also partially reversed by BITC treatment. The TGFβ-/TNFα-induced migration of MCF-10A cells was inhibited in the presence of BITC, which was partially attenuated by RNA interference of E-cadherin. Inhibition of MDA-MB-231 xenograft growth in vivo in female athymic mice by BITC administration was associated with an increase in protein level of E-cadherin and suppression of vimentin and fibronectin protein expression. In conclusion, this study reports a novel anticancer effect of BITC involving inhibition of EMT, a process triggered during progression of cancer to invasive state.