Propofol reduces breast cancer cell stemness via FOXO3/SOX2 axis

Objective: Propofol is a common intravenous anesthetic in cancer resection surgery, which is considered to exhibit anti-tumor effect in various cancer types. This study was aimed at investigating the role and mechanism of propofol in breast cancer stemness and proliferation. Methods: The breast cancer cells with propofol treatment were sequenced. The expression of FOXO3 in propofol treated cells was detected by RT-qPCR and Western blot. The CSC properties were analyzed by screen cells with ESA⁺CD44⁺CD24^-/low through flow cytometry and the proliferation capacity were also detected. The expression correlation of FOXO3 and target genes were detected by western blot. The potential binding site of FOXO3 on SOX2 was predicted by JASPAR and verified by dual-luciferase reporter assay and ChIP assay. Results: FOXO3 was found to be upregulated in propofol 24h-treated cells. Propofol could inhibit the capacity of breast cancer cell stemness and proliferation by upregulation FOXO3, which inhibited SOX2 expression transcriptionally. Conclusion: In this study, we uncovered the role of propofol-FOXO3-SOX2 in breast cancer cell stemness and proliferation, which might serve as potential targets for breast cancer therapy.