Oblongifolin C inhibits metastasis by up-regulating keratin 18 and tubulins

• Published in: Scientific reports 2015-05, Vol.5 (1), p.10293-10293, Article 10293
• Main Authors: Wang, Xiaoyu, Lao, Yuanzhi, Xu, Naihan, Xi, Zhichao, Wu, Man, Wang, Hua, Li, Xiyi, Tan, Hongsheng, Sun, Menghong, Xu, Hongxi
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 13/1; 13/31; 13/51; 14/63; 38/90; 42/109; 49/47; 631/67/322; 64/60; 692/699/67/1059/153; 82/51; 96/2; Animals; Antineoplastic Agents - pharmacology; Cancer; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - drug therapy; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell - pathology; Cell Line, Tumor; Cell Movement - drug effects; Cell Proliferation - drug effects; Esophageal Neoplasms - drug therapy; Esophageal Neoplasms - pathology; Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma; Esophagus; Garcinia - metabolism; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Hep G2 Cells; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Immunohistochemistry; Keratin; Keratin-18 - biosynthesis; Keratin-18 - genetics; Metastases; Metastasis; Mice; Mice, Nude; multidisciplinary; Neoplasm Invasiveness - pathology; Neoplasm Metastasis - drug therapy; Neoplasm Metastasis - pathology; Plant Extracts - pharmacology; Polymerase chain reaction; RNA Interference; RNA, Small Interfering; Science; Terpenes - pharmacology; Tubulin; Tubulin - biosynthesis; Western blotting; Wound healing; Wound Healing - drug effects
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/srep10293

Tumor metastasis is the main cause of cancer-related patient death. In this study, we performed a wound healing migration screen to search for a metastatic inhibitor within our library of natural compounds. We found that oblongifolin C (OC), a natural compound extracted from Garcinia yunnanensis Hu, is an effective inhibitor of metastasis in human esophageal squamous carcinoma Eca109 cells. The transwell migration and matrigel invasion assay results also showed that OC inhibits the migration of Eca109 cells and HepG2 cells. OC can increase the expression of tubulin, indicating that OC inhibits metastasis via tubulin aggregation. In addition, the Western blotting, real-time PCR and immunostaining results indicated that OC increases the expression of keratin18. Furthermore, the knockdown of keratin 18 by small interfering RNAs inhibited the expression of tubulin and increased the metastasis of cancer cells, suggesting that keratin 18 is the upstream signal of tubulin and plays a vital role in metastasis. A subsequent study in a tail vein injection metastasis model showed that OC can significantly inhibit pulmonary metastasis, as revealed by immunohistochemistry staining. Taken together, our results suggest that OC inhibits metastasis through the induction of the expression of keratin 18 and may be useful in cancer therapy.