Correlation Between Epithelial-mesenchymal Transition and Sensitivity to EGFR Targeted Monoclonal Antibody in Triple Negative Breast Cancer Cells

Objective To observe the relationship between epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and the sensitivity of triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells to EGFR targeted monoclonal antibody. Methods (1) We compared the expression level of EGFR, vimentin and E-cadherin in TNBC cells by immunoblotting. (2) We observed the sensitivity of individual cell line to cetuximab by CCK8 kit. (3) We managed to reverse the EMT of MDA-MB231 with a type I histone deacetylase inhibitor Entinostat (ENT). (4) We observed the suppression effect of the combination of ENT and cetuximab on the viability of MDA-MB231 cells. Results (1) The expression level of E-cadherin was significantly higher and the expression level of vimentin was significantly lower in MDA-MB468 cells than in MDA-MB436 and MDA-MB231 cells. (2) MDA-MB468 cells were more sensitive to cetuximab than MDA-MB231 and MDA-MB436 cells. (3) ENT could reverse the EMT of MDA-MB231 cells. (4) The viability of MDA-MB231 cells was suppressed significantly by ENT treatment whi