Related Experiment Video For C-phycocyanin
Updated: Mar 6, 2026

Studying TGF-β Signaling and TGF-β-induced Epithelial-to-mesenchymal Transition in Breast Cancer and Normal Cells
Published on: October 27, 2020
C-phycocyanin suppresses transforming growth factor-β1-induced epithelial mesenchymal transition in human epithelial
Dhamotharan Pattarayan1, Dheeran Rajarajan1, Sivanantham Ayyanar1
1Department of Biotechnology, Anna University, BIT-Campus, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India.
Background:
Epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a process through which epithelial cells undergo multiple biochemical changes, causing them to differentiate into a mesenchymal-cell phenotype. This process has been shown to contribute to the development of fibrotic diseases. C-phycocyanin (C-PC) is a phycobiliprotein extracted from Spirulina platensis. This study was done to investigate the effect of C-PC on transforming growth factor-β1 (TGF-β1)-induced EMT and an EMT associated proliferation in human epithelial cell lines.
Methods:
Human adenocarcinoma cell line, A549 and breast cancer cell line, MCF-7 were treated with TGF-β1, and EMT-related genes expression, cell proliferation and cell cycle arrest were examined.
Results:
C-PC suppressed the EMT as assessed by reduced expression of vimentin, type-1-collagen and fibronectin, and increased E-cadherin expression in TGF-β1 treated cells. Further, TGF-β1 treatment induced cell cycle arrest in S and G2/M phase in A549 cells. However, TGF-β1-mediated cell cycle arrest was significantly reversed by combined treatment with C-PC.
Conclusions:
The overall data suggested that C-PC suppresses TGF- β1-induced EMT and warrants further in vivo studies for future evaluation of C-PC as a potential antifibrotic agent.
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