ABSTRACT
ObjectiveTo observe the effect of Danshen injection （DAN） on platelet （PLT）-induced metastasis of breast cancer cells in vitro. MethodThe 3-（4，5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl）-2，5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide （MTT） assay was used to observe the effect of DAN on the growth of MDA-MB-231 cells in vitro. Oris™ migration assay was used to determine the effect of DAN （final mass concentrations 4， 8， 16 g·L-1） on PLT （1.5×1010 cells/L）-induced migration of breast cancer cells in vitro. The effect of DAN on PLT-induced cell invasion was detected by Transwell assay. Immunofluorescence and Western blot were used to detect the effect of DAN on the protein expression associated with PLT-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition （EMT）. In addition， enzyme-linked immune-sorbent assay （ELISA） was used to determine the effect of DAN （final mass concentrations 4， 8， 16， 32， 64 g·L-1） on the secretion of transforming growth factor-β1 （TGF-β1）. Western blot was used to observe the effect of DAN on the expression of podoplanin （PDPN） protein in MDA-MB-231 cells induced by PLT. ResultCompared with the blank group， the DAN groups （32 and 64 g·L-1） showed decreased A570 （P<0.05， P<0.01）， and there was no significant difference in A570 between DAN groups （4， 8， 16 g·L-1）. Compared with the blank group， the PLT group showed increased cell migration and invasion， while DAN groups significantly inhibited PLT-induced cell migration and invasion. Compared with the blank group， the PLT group showed decreased expression of E-cadherin， while DAN could significantly reverse this effect of PLT. Compared with the blank group， the PLT group showed increased Slug and Snail protein expression （P<0.05， P<0.01）， while DAN significantly reversed Snail protein expression induced by PLT （P<0.05， P<0.01）. The content of TGF-β1 in the PLT group increased （P<0.01）， while the secretion of TGF-β1 induced by PLT decreased in the DAN groups （16， 32， and 64 g·L-1） （P<0.05， P<0.01）， and the secretion of TGF-β1 was not significantly affected in other DAN groups. PDPN protein expression in the PLT group increased （P<0.01）， while DAN could significantly inhibit PLT-induced PDPN expression （P<0.01）. ConclusionDAN can inhibit PLT-induced migration， invasion， and EMT of breast cancer cells. The mechanism may be related to the direct action between breast cancer cells and tumor cells by down-regulating PDPN expression and interfering with PLT and has nothing to do with the effect of TGF-β1 secretion of PLT.