Objective: To investigate the enhancing effect of ?-interferon on anticancer effect of tamoxifen against breast cancer cells in vitro. Methods: ER-positive MCF-7 and ER-negative MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell lines were treated with tamoxifen alone, or in combination with ?-interferon or estrogen in vitro. Cell proliferation was evaluated by MTT assay; distribution of cell cycle was determined by flow cytometry( FCM) and cell apoptosis was determined by DNA gel electrophoresis and FCM. Results: Tamoxifen inhibited the growth of ER-negtive and-positive brest cancer cells, induced G0/G1 phase arrest and induced cell apoptosis. Tamoxifen at same concentration had stronger inhibitory effect on ER-positive cells than ER-negative ones. Promoting effect of estrogen on MCF-7 growth was blocked by TAM, but inhibition of MDA-MB-231 by TAM was not related to estrogen. Anticancer effect of TAM was enhanced when cells were pre-treated with ?-interferon for 24 h. Conclusion: TAM exerts its anti-cancer effect through inhibiting proliferation and inducing apoptosis of ER-positive/negative breast cancer cells in vitro, and ?-interferon can enhance this manticancer effect of TAM on breast cancer cells.

The purpose of this study is to assess the nutritional value and biological effect of Collybia Velutipes. The results were as follows: (1) 10% Collybia Velutipes extract contains 19210mg/L of total amino acid. It is more than the content in the equal amount of mushrooms. (2) The kindergarten children were fed with Collybia Velutipes product for 7 weeks. It was found that the height and the circumference of the mid-upper arm in the children were significantly higher than the control. (3) Weanling male and female rats of wistar strain were divided into two groups ana led the following diets: group l(control), Collybia Velutipes (CV) free diet; group 2(subject), diet containing 25% CV product which contains 2.5% dried CV. The rats were fed the diet ad libitum for 6 weeks. At the end of the experiment, we found that the food effect (FE) of the subject group was significantly higher than the control (P