Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma activation in human breast cancer

The peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPAR gamma) is a memb er of the nuclear receptor family of ligand-activated transcription factors . This study was designed to evaluate ligand activation of PPAR gamma in hu man breast cancer cells. DNA binding by endogenous PPAR gamma in gel shift assays and activation of PPAR gamma by prostanoid and thiazolidinedione lig ands in reporter gene assays differed between the cell lines. The PPAR gamm a ligands elicited an anti-proliferative effect in MTT proliferation assays . Our data point to a variable, cell-specific response to different gamma-l igands, which holds significance for further studies on the role of PPAR ga mma in mediating breast cancer growth and progression.