Invasion and metastasis of cancer cells are the major causes of high motality in cancer patients. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) are zinc-dependent proteolytic enzymes capable of degrading the components of extracellular matrix (ECM), including type IV collagen, gelatin and fibronectin. Cancer cells destruct surrounding tissues by enzymatic action of MMPs, leading to cancer invasion and metastasis. Among several MMPs, MMP-2, -7 and -9 are considered to be involved in cancer invasion and metastasis. In particular, MMP-7 is frequently found to overexpress in the invasive edge of cancer cells and play important roles in invasion or metastasis of digestive cancer. 1,2) Recently, the attempt to search for MMP inhibitors from plants is being performed, and several investigators have reported the inhibitory effects of epigallocatechin, 3) caffeic acid, 4) and proanthocyanin 5) on gene expression or enzymatic activity of MMP-2 and -9. However, except for the papers by Kawabata et al.,[6][7][8] little attention has been given to the development of MMP-7 inhibitors.Isofraxidin occurs in a variety of plants including Acansopanax senticosus HARMs (Japanese name: Ezoukogi). As the major compounds of Acanthopanax senticosus, eleutheroside B, B1, E, isofraxidin, and chlorogenic acid have been identified, isolated, and reported to possess several biological activities, such as anti-stress, anti-fatigue, antigastric ulcer, anti-depressive, immuno-enhancing and antiinflammatory effects. [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16] We previously examined the effect of isofraxidin on the expression of inflammatory mediator cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) mRNA and found inhibitory effects at a significant level on human synovial sarcoma cell line SW982 cells. [11][12][13][14][15][16] In this study, we investigated isofraxidin in its anti-tumor effects on human hepatoma cell lines in cellular and molecular terms.
MATERIALS AND METHODSCell Culture Human hepatoma cell lines HuH-7, HepG2 and HLE and a human lung fibroblast cell line IMR90 were obtained from Japanese Collection of Research Bioresources (JCRB). Cells were grown in RPMI-1640 culture medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS), 100 U/ml penicillin, and 100 mg/ml streptomycin at 37°C in a humidified atmosphere of 5% CO 2 and 95% air.Phenolic Compounds Isofraxidin was purchased from Wako Pure Chemical Industries, Ltd. (Osaka, Japan). Eleutheroside E was purchased from Phytochem Referenzsubstanzen GbRmb (Ichenhausen, Germany). The compounds were added to the culture medium at appropriate concentrations as a dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) solution (the final DMSO concentration was 0.5% in all cultures), and the same amount of vehicle was added to the control cultures.3-(4,5-Dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium Bromide (MTT) Assay For cell attachment study, cells were plated in 96-well plates at 3.0ϫ10 4 cells/cm 2 (low cell density) in 0.1 ml of serum-free RPMI-1640 medium containing or not containing isofraxidin and incubated for 24 h. For cell growth study, cells were plated i...