Herbal formulation, HF1 diminishes tumorigenesis: a cytokine study between MCF-7 and BM-MSCs.

Tumorigenesis is a result of favorable interactions between the tumor microenvironment (TME) and tumor cells. The microenvironment hosts several cytokines, soluble factors, and signaling factors secreted by stromal cells which accelerate the progression of cancer. Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSCs) invade the TME and are hypothesized to differentiate into cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) by the action of Transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β) and Vascular Endothelial growth factor VEGF, some of the key cytokines involved in this process.
This study aimed to investigate expression of cytokines with different conditioned media using the MCF-7 breast cancer cell line and BM-MSCs. Furthermore, we also studied the effectiveness of a herbal formulation (HF-1) in countering the expression of these cytokines. BM-MSCs secreted significantly higher concentrations of the cytokines when in co-culture with MCF-7 cells. Furthermore, the diminished concentrations of VEGF and TGF-β observed post-addition of HF-1 demonstrates its potential applications in preventing tumorigenesis and cancer metastasis.