Cucurbitacin B inhibits the migration and invasion of breast cancer cells by altering the biomechanical properties of cells

Changes in cellular biomechanical properties affect cell migration and invasion. The natural compound Cucurbitacin B (CuB) has potent anticancer activity; however, the mechanism underlying its inhibitory effect on breast cancer metastasis needs further study. Here, we showed that low‐dose CuB inhibi...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Phytotherapy research 2019-03, Vol.33 (3), p.618-630
Main Authors: Liang, Jing, Zhang, Xiao‐Lan, Yuan, Jin‐Wei, Zhang, Hao‐Ran, Liu, Dan, Hao, Jian, Ji, Wei, Wu, Xiong‐Zhi, Chen, Dan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Actin
Adhesion
Anticancer properties
Antitumor activity
Biomechanics
Breast cancer
Cancer
Cdc42 protein
Cell adhesion
Cell adhesion & migration
Cell migration
Cucurbitacin B
Cytoskeleton
Deformability
Deformation
Deformation effects
Deformation mechanisms
Formability
Mechanical properties
Metastases
metastasis
Proteins
Rac1 protein
Rho family
RhoA protein
Signaling
Vimentin
Vinculin
Viscoelasticity
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Changes in cellular biomechanical properties affect cell migration and invasion. The natural compound Cucurbitacin B (CuB) has potent anticancer activity; however, the mechanism underlying its inhibitory effect on breast cancer metastasis needs further study. Here, we showed that low‐dose CuB inhibited adhesion and altered the viscoelasticity of breast cancer cells, thereby, reducing cell deformability. In vitro and in vivo experiments proved that CuB effectively inhibited the migration and invasion of breast cancer cells. Further studies have found that CuB downregulated the expression of F‐actin/vimentin/FAK/vinculin in breast cancer cells, altering the distribution and reorganization of cytoskeletal proteins in the cells. CuB inhibited signaling by the Rho family GTPases RAC1/CDC42/RhoA downstream of integrin. These findings indicate that CuB has been proven to mediate the reorganization and distribution of cytoskeletal proteins of breast cancer cells through RAC1/CDC42/RhoA signaling, which improves the mechanical properties of cell adhesion and deformation and consequently inhibits cell migration and invasion.
ISSN:0951-418X
1099-1573
DOI:10.1002/ptr.6250