TY - JOUR AB - Natural pigments are known for possessing a wide range of pharmacological and health-promoting properties. The pigments, produced by a new strain Fusarium (Fusarium sp. JN158) previously identified in our laboratory, were found to have 6 peaks (representing 6 compounds) by high-performance liquid chromatography with a diode-array detector (HPLC-DAD) separation. The 6th peak compound (compound VI) is a benzoquinone compound. In this study, we examined the effects of compound VI on the proliferation of breast cancer cells and aimed to elucidate the underlying mechamisms. Compound VI exerted anti-proliferative effects on MCF‑7 estrogen receptor (ER)+ cells in a dose-dependent manner (IC25, 7 µM; IC50, 11 µM), whereas it had no effect on MDA‑MB‑231 ER- cells and normal cells. The cell index (CI) began to decrease at 24 h following treatment with benzoquinone. Mechanistically, the results from molecular analysis revealed that compound VI inhibited the expression of ERα, progesterone receptor (PR), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), Bcl-2, cyclin D1 and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) p65, while it increased the expression of cleaved caspase-3 and Bax in the MCF‑7 cells. Taken together, our findings indicate that compound VI exerts anti-proliferative effects on MCF‑7 cells through the NF-κB pathway via the regulation of ER signaling. Our data may indicate that benzoquinone from Fusarium pigment may have potential for use as an anti-proliferative agent in the treatment of breast cancer. AD - College of Biology Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, Jiangsu 214122, P.R. China School of Computer Science, Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanchang, Jiangxi 330004, P.R. China School of Basic Medicine, Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanchang, Jiangxi 330004, P.R. China AU - Zheng,Lixiang AU - Cai,Yujian AU - Zhou,Li AU - Huang,Ping AU - Ren,Xiaoying AU - Zuo,Airen AU - Meng,Xianming AU - Xu,Minjuan AU - Liao,Xiangru DA - 2017/01/01 DO - 10.3892/ijmm.2016.2811 EP - 46 IS - 1 JO - Int J Mol Med KW - Fusarium benzoquinone pigment anti‑proliferation estrogen receptor signaling nuclear factor-κB pathway PY - 2017 SN - 1107-3756 1791-244X SP - 39 ST - Benzoquinone from Fusarium pigment inhibits the proliferation of estrogen receptor-positive MCF-7 cells through the NF-κB pathway via estrogen receptor signaling T2 - International Journal of Molecular Medicine TI - Benzoquinone from Fusarium pigment inhibits the proliferation of estrogen receptor-positive MCF-7 cells through the NF-κB pathway via estrogen receptor signaling UR - https://doi.org/10.3892/ijmm.2016.2811 VL - 39 ER -