The Effect of Berberine Follow by Blue Light Irradiation and Valproic Acid on the Growth Inhibition of MDA-MB-231 Breast Cancer Cells.

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer after lung cancer in the world. Due to the anti-cancer properties of Berberine (Ber), in this study, the effect of combination therapy of Ber in the presence of blue LED irradiation and Valproic acid (Val) on the MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell line was investigated. For this reason, after culturing the cells using different concentrations of Ber and Val, breast cancer cells were treated in both mono-treatment and combination therapy. In combination therapy, two modes were considered: (1) treatment with Val and then treatment with Ber in the dark or in presence of blue light irradiation (PDT)at a wavelength of 465 nm and energy of 30 J/cm2 for 15 min, and (2) treatment with Ber in the dark or PDT and then treated with Val. In all cases, cell viability, morphological changes, and colonization were assessed. Evaluation of apoptosis was performed by fluorescence microscope and flow cytometry. According to the results, combination therapy has a higher mortality rate compared to mono-treatment, and in combination therapy, treatment of cells first with Ber (10 µg/mL)-PDT and then treatment with Val (250 µg/mL) caused a significant reduction (P < 0/05) in the survival rate of cancer cells. According to the findings, it can be said that the use of Ber-PDT in combination with Val, in addition to reducing the dose of the drug, has shown a synergistic effect which can suggest the potential of this strategy as a new treatment.