Dietary prevention has been known to reduce breast cancer risk. Sesamin is one of the major components in sesame seeds and has been widely studied and proven to have anti-proliferation and anti-angiogenic effects on cancer cells. In this study, the influence of sesamin was tested in the human breast cancer MCF-7 cell line for cell viability (MTT assay) and cell cycling (flow cytometry). Results showed that sesamin dose-dependently (1, 10 and 50 μM) reduced the cell viability and increased LDH

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... lease and apoptosis (TUNEL assay). In addition, there was a significant increase of sub-G1 phase arrest in the cell cycle after sesamin treatment. Furthermore, sesamin increased the expression of apoptotic markers of Bax, caspase-3, and cell cycle control proteins, p53 and checkpoint kinase 2. Taken together, these results suggested that sesamin might be used as a dietary supplement for prevention of breast cancer by modulating apoptotic signal pathways and inhibiting tumor cell growth. Cell lines and culture Human breast cancer MCF-7 cell line was purchased from ATCC. Cells were cultured in a humidified incubator at 37°C and 5% CO 2 atmosphere in DMEM (Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium), supplemented with 10% FBS and 1% penicillin-streptomycin. Cell viability assay Cell viability was measured using blue formazan An-Ci Siao et al