• Investigating the effect of simultaneous administration of 5-fluorouracil and spirulina on the expression of inflammatory factors in mouse and human breast cancer cell lines
  • Nasim Kheshtchin,1 Amirhossein Mazare,2,*
    1. Shiraz university of Medical science
    2. Shiraz university of Medical science


  • Introduction: Breast cancer remains a major global health challenge for women, with issues such as drug resistance, treatment side effects, and recurrence persisting despite advances in diagnosis and therapy. Thus, this study aimed to assess the combined impact of 5-fluorouracil and Spirulina on inflammatory markers and to evaluate the therapeutic effectiveness of this combination in mouse and human breast cancer cell lines.
  • Methods: In this study, 4T1 (mouse) and MDA-MB-468 (human) breast cancer cell lines were cultured and treated with Spirulina extract, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), or their combination. Cytotoxicity was assessed using the MTT assay, while cell migration and proliferation were evaluated via wound healing and colony formation assays. Real-time PCR were performed to measure gene expression. Data analysis was performed using GraphPad Prism software, version 8.3.
  • Results: Spirulina extract alone can kill cancer cells (MDA-MB-468 and 4T1) and induce apoptosis, supporting earlier animal studies.When used together, Spirulina and 5-FU reduce the required chemotherapy dose and enhance cancer cell destruction. This combination also inhibits colony formation and cell invasion,Spirulina may enhance the effectiveness of chemotherapy while reducing inflammation, though its impact on inflammatory gene expression varies across cell types.
  • Conclusion: Spirulina extract showed anti-cancer properties in breast cancer cell lines and can prevent the invasion and proliferation of these tumor cells. This extract showed different effects in two cell lines and in the 4T1 cell line it reduced the inflammatory effect of the chemotherapy drug 5-FU but increased the expression of inflammatory cytokines in the MDA-MB-468 cell line. More studies are needed in the future to determine this relationship more precisely.
  • Keywords: 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU), Breast cancer, Inflammatory factors, Bioinformatics analysis, Cancer chemothe