Adenosine modulates cell growth in the human breast cancer cells via adenosine receptors

Adenosine modulates the proliferation, survival, and apoptosis of many different cell types. The present study was performed to investigate the role of adenosine receptors in the human breast cancer cell lines MCF-7 and MDA-MB468. The biological effects of adenosine on the cells were analyzed by adenylyl cyclase and cell viability assay as well as RT-PCR of adenosine receptors. RT-PCR results show the expression of the transcript of all adenosine receptors in both cell lines. By using adenosine and selective adenosine receptor agonists or antagonists, we found that A3 stimulation reduced cell viability, which was abolished by pretreatment with A3 receptor antagonist. Moreover, we demonstrated that adenosine (natural agonist) triggers a cytotoxic signal via A3 receptor activation that was not seen for other subclasses of adenosine receptors. Intracellular cAMP concentration was changed significantly only for A3 and A2B receptor-selective agonists, which indicates the functional form of these receptors on the cell surface. In conclusion, our findings revealed the role of adenosine receptors in breast cancer cell lines on growth modulation role of A3 and functional form of A2B, although its involvement in cell growth modulation was not seen. Theses findings as well as data by others may provide a possible application of adenosine receptor agonists/antagonists in breast malignancies.