Effects of Somatostatin, Curcumin and Quercetin on the fatty acid profile of breast cancer cell membranes

We used MCF-7 and MDA-MB231 breast cancer cells incubated with Curcumin and Quercetin for 24h, in the absence and presence of Somatostatin, at their EC50 concentrations, to evaluate membrane fatty acid-based functional lipidomics together with the follow-up of EGFR and MAPK signaling pathways. The two cell lines gave different membrane free fatty acid reorganization: in MCF-7 cells, the following changes observed: increase of omega-6 linoleic acid in the cells incubated with Somatostatin+Quercetin and Quercetin and decrease of omega-3 acids in the cells incubated with Somatostatin+Curcumin compared to Somatostatin, and significant increases of monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA), mono-trans arachidonic acid levels and docosapentaenoic acid for the cells incubated with Somatostatin+Quercetin compared to the control cells. In MDA-MB231 cells, incubations with Curcumin, Quercetin and Somatostatin+Quercetin induced the most significant membrane remodeling with the increase of stearic acid, diminution of omega-6 linoleic, arachidonic acids and omega-3 (docosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids). Distinct signaling pathway changes were found for these cell lines. In MCF-7 cells, separate or combined incubations with Somatostatin and Quercetin, significantly decreased EGFR and incubation with Curcumin decreased MAPK signaling. In MDA-MB231 cells, incubation with Curcumin decreased AKT1 and p-AKT1(Thr308) levels. Incubation with Curcumin and Quercetin decreased the EGFR levels.