Research Paper Volume 8, Issue 8 pp 1593—1606
Bedaquiline, an FDA-approved antibiotic, inhibits mitochondrial function and potently blocks the proliferative expansion of stem-like cancer cells (CSCs)
Figure 7. Bedaquiline halts the propagation of the CSC population. (A) MCF7 cells were grown as mammospheres, and treated with bedaquiline at increasing concentrations or vehicle alone. Note that bedaquiline inhibits mammosphere formation efficiency (MFE), in a dose-dependent fashion, with an IC-50 of ~1 μM. * p<0.05, ** p< 0.01, evaluated by Student's t test. (B) MCF7 cell monolayers were treated with bedaquiline (5μM and 10 μM) for 48 hours and then re-plated on low-attachment plates in the absence of bedaquiline for 12 hours. The expression of CD44 and CD24 (CSC markers) was analyzed by FACS. Note that the CD44(+)high/CD24(−)low cell population, which is believed to be the CSC population, is reduced by bedaquiline. (C, D) Similar results were also obtained using ALDEFLOUR as a marker of CSCs. ALDEFLUOR was measured by FACS analysis. DEAB (diethylaminobenzal-dehyde), a specific ALDH inhibitor, was used as a negative control for each sample. **** p<0.00001.