Cip-interacting zinc finger protein 1 (Ciz1) stimulates DNA replication and has been implicated in the tumorigenesis of breast cancer cells. In order to investigate the possibility of using medicinal glucocorticoids against breast cancer, we studied whether certain glucocorticoids affect the expression of Ciz1. The in vitro effect of clobetasol treatment on the reduction of Ciz1 expression was detected by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. Western blotting also confirmed the down-regulation of the protein in a dose-dependent manner upon clobetasol treatment in U937 monocytoid cells. Furthermore, we found that Ciz1 protein expression was decreased after pre-treatment of the cells with clobetasol and genistein. An extract of Lens culinaris also had a synergistic effect on the repression of Ciz1 protein expression.
Keywords: Cip-interacting zinc finger protein 1; glucocorticoid; AG490; genistein; gene expression; cancer.