title: Anti-metastatic activity of fangchinoline in human gastric cancer AGS cells.
abstract: Fangchinoline (FCL) is an active component isolated from the traditional medicinal plantStephania tetrandraS. Moore, and has been reported to possess anti-cancer functions in several types of cancers; however, the effect of FCL on gastric cancer metastasis and its underlying molecular mechanisms remain unknown. The current study aimed to investigate the effect of FCL on the cell migration and invasion of human metastatic gastric cancer AGS cells and its mechanisms. Our study demonstrates that FCL dosage dependently suppressed the adhesion, migration and invasion capacities of human gastric cancer AGS cells without obvious cytotoxic effects. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and western blot assays demonstrated that FCL greatly inhibited the expression of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 at both the mRNA and protein levels, while it significantly increased the expression of tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMP) 1 and TIMP2 messenger RNAs. Our results also indicated that FCL repressed the phosphorylation of AKT in gastric cancer AGS cells. In summary, FCL may exert its anti-metastatic property in human gastric cancer cellsin vitroby suppression of MMP-2 and MMP-9, increase of TIMP1 and TIMP2 genes, and inhibition of AKT phosphorylation. FCL may be a drug candidate for the treatment of gastric cancer metastasis.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215007, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zhengrong
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215007, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Tengfei
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215007, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Kui
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, Jiangsu 215007, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Chungen
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xing
keywords: AKT; MMPs; fangchinoline; gastric cancer; metastasis