title: Cucurbitacin E inhibits breast tumor metastasis by suppressing cell migration and invasion.
abstract: Tumor metastasis is the main cause of cancer-related deaths of patients. Breast cancer is highly malignant with considerable metastatic potential, which urges the necessity for developing novel potential drug candidate to prevent tumor metastasis. Here, we report our finding with Cucurbitacin E (CuE, α-elaterin), a tetracyclic triterpenes compound isolated from Cucurbitaceae. The potency of CuE on breast cancer metastasis inhibition was assessed in vivo and in vitro. In our animal experiments, intraperitoneal administrations of CuE significantly inhibited breast tumor metastasis to the lung without affecting apoptosis or proliferation of inoculated 4T1 and MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. Treatment of metastatic breast tumor cells with CuE markedly blocked tumor cell migration and invasion in vitro. Subsequent studies showed that CuE impaired Arp2/3-dependent actin polymerization and suppressed Src/FAK/Rac1/MMP involved pathway. Overall, our data demonstrate that CuE blocks breast cancer metastasis by suppressing tumor cell migration and invasion. We provide first evidence of a novel role for CuE as a potential candidate for treating breast cancer metastasis.
authors: Shanghai Key Laboratory of Regulatory Biology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences and School of Life Sciences, East China Normal University, 500 Dongchuan Road, Shanghai 200241, China.
authors: Tao
authors: T
authors: Zhang
authors: Jingjie
authors: J
authors: Li
authors: Yanmin
authors: Y
authors: Dong
authors: Dong
authors: D
authors: Zhai
authors: Li
authors: L
authors: Lai
authors: Fujun
authors: F
authors: Dai
authors: Huayun
authors: H
authors: Deng
authors: Yihua
authors: Y
authors: Chen
authors: Mingyao
authors: M
authors: Liu
authors: Zhengfang
authors: Z
authors: Yi
mesh_terms: D000199:Actins / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D017209:Apoptosis; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002465:Cell Movement / Q000187:drug effects*; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D004353:Drug Evaluation, Preclinical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008175:Lung Neoplasms / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000556:secondary; D015674:Mammary Neoplasms, Animal / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D020778:Matrix Metalloproteinase 2 / Q000378:metabolism; D020780:Matrix Metalloproteinase 9 / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008819:Mice, Nude; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness / Q000517:prevention & control; D009368:Neoplasm Transplantation; D055503:Protein Multimerization / Q000187:drug effects; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects; D014315:Triterpenes / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D047368:Tumor Burden / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D000199:Actins; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D014315:Triterpenes; C522361:MMP2 protein, human; D020778:Matrix Metalloproteinase 2; D020780:Matrix Metalloproteinase 9; C102326:cucurbitacin E