Mackenzie Cronk
Research Mentor(s): Erin Giles
Mentor Department: Kinesiology
Authors: Mackenzie Cronk, Amanda Kucinskas, Erin Giles
Session: Session 2 (10:00am – 10:50am)
Presentation Type: Poster 87
Abstract
At the time of menopause, approximately 70% of women are at an increased risk of breast cancer diagnosis and morbidity due to being overweight or obese. Several new classes of incretin mimetic agents that target satiety-related receptors have recently been approved for the treatment of both obesity and diabetes and have been shown to induce significant weight loss. The limited epidemiological and pre-clinical data to date also suggest that these agents decrease the growth of several obesity-related cancers, including breast cancer. Preliminary data from our lab suggests increased proliferation of tirzepatide-treated Py230, but not MCF-7 or T-47D, hormone-responsive breast cancer cells via the MTT assay, which relies on mitochondrial activity. Additional data suggests no effect of tirzepatide on hormone-responsive breast cancer cell proliferation via BioSpa live cell imaging, which directly quantifies cell number. These findings suggest that tirzepatide may increase mitochondrial number in Py230 cells, but not other hormone-responsive breast cancer cell lines, thus the goal of the current study is to characterize mitochondrial number (mtDNA/nDNA) using PCR in response to tirzepatide treatment in a panel of hormone-responsive breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7, T-47D, and Py230). Briefly, cells were treated with control media, vehicle, or 100 nM tirzepatide for 72 hours. DNA was extracted from each sample and PCR was performed to quantify mtDNA/nDNA. We expect mtDNA/nDNA to be increased in tirzepatide-treated versus control or vehicle-treated Py230 cells. We expect no differences in mtDNA/nDNA in tirzepatide-treated, control, and vehicle-treated MCF-7 and T47D cells. Future studies will aim to assess mitochondrial activity in vitro and effects of tirzepatide on mitochondrial number of in vivo-derived mammary tumors.
