Propofol is one of the extensively commonly used intravenous anesthetic agents. Previous studies have indicated that propofol has the ability to influence the biological behavior of several human cancer cells. However, the effect of propofol on osteosarcoma and its related molecular mechanisms are still not clear. Here we found that propofol significantly elevated the expression of miR-143, inhibited cell proliferation and invasion, and promoted apoptosis in osteosarcoma cell line MG63. Propofol also efficiently decreased protein expression of matrix metalloproteinase 13 (MMP-13). Moreover, the overexpression of miR-143 decreased MMP-13 protein level. Finally, the neutralization of miR-143 by anti-miR-143 antibody reversed the effect of propofol on cell proliferation, apoptosis, and invasion and upregulated MMP-13 expression in MG63 cells. Taken together, propofol may have antitumor potential in osteosarcoma, which is partly due to the downregulation of MMP-13 expression by miR-143.

To investigate whether the mesoporous bioactive glass (MBG) exerts any in vitro bioactivity on rat osteoblasts and the potential regulatory mechanism of this bioactivity. Rat osteoblasts were incubated in the presence and absence (control) of ionic dissolution product of MBG in minimal essential medium. The osteoblast proliferation and differentiation were measured using MTT and alkaline phosphatase methods. The IGF-II mRNA expression in osteoblasts was measured by RT-PCR. IGF-II protein and IGFBP were measured by ELISA. The level of alkaline phosphatase activity was increased to 125% of control. Expression of IGF-II mRNA was increased to 125% of control. There was a 175 and 237% increase in the concentration of unbound IGF-II protein and IGFBP, respectively, in the conditioned media of treated osteoblasts. The osteoblast proliferation was 92% of control. The ionic dissolution product of MBG was able to promote the differentiation of osteoblasts, probably by inducing IGF-II expression at both mRNA and protein level.