# Investigation of the immunological effects of escitalopram oxalate in the breast cancer co-culture model

## TL;DR

This study explores how escitalopram oxalate, an antidepressant, affects immune responses in breast cancer cell models and finds it more effective than tamoxifen.

## Contribution

The study introduces a novel co-culture model to evaluate the immunological effects of escitalopram oxalate in breast cancer.

## Key findings

- Escitalopram oxalate showed lower IC50 values than tamoxifen in MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells.
- Escitalopram oxalate modulated cytokine levels more effectively than tamoxifen in co-culture models.
- The drug demonstrated significant immunological effects on breast cancer cell lines.

## Abstract

During breast cancer treatment, approximately half of the patients are prescribed psychotropic medication, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Escitalopram oxalate is an SSRI used as an antidepressant.

In this study, by creating a breast cancer microenvironment with THP-1, MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 breast cancer co-culture models were created.

MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, and THP-1 cell lines to determine the concentration range of the cytotoxic effect of escitalopram oxalate MTS and MTT test were used. IC50 values were determined by the xCELLigence real-time cell analysis (RTCA) system. Apoptotic activities and cytokine levels were determined by flow cytometry.

In the xCELLigence real-time analysis made according to the results, the IC50 value of escitalopram oxalate was measured as 13.7 μM for MCF-7 and 10.9 μM for MDA-MB-231. The IC50 value was measured as 54.6 μM for MCF-7 and 58.4 μM for MDA-MB-231 in xCELLigence analysis with tamoxifen. According to the MTS test results, the IC50 value of tamoxifen for THP-1 was 92.03 μM and the IC50 value for escitalopram oxalate was 95.32 μM. In the co-culture model, the immunological effects of escitalopram oxalate on MCF-7 cells were 2.8%, 11.1%, 15.6%, 10.6%, and 12.1% for interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, and TNF-α, respectively, while MDA effects on MB-231 cells, respectively, were 2.1%, 15.9%, 16.2%, 8.8%, and 11.8%.

According to the results obtained, it was concluded that the immunological effects of escitalopram oxalate are more effective than tamoxifen and that it can be used as an adjunctive agent in breast cancer treatment.