ABSTRACT
Objective: To detect the effects of dicentrine on the migration and invasion of human hepatocellular carcinoma MHCC97-H cells and potential mechanisms. Methods: MHCC97-H cells were cultured in vitro and cultured at logarithmic growth stage. The cells were treated with 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 μmol/L dicentrine for 24, 48, 72 h, and cell proliferation was determined by MTT assay. The cells were treated with 5, 10, 25 μmol/L dicentrine for 24 h, the cell adhesion, cell migration, cell invasion, gene expression of VEGF, MMP-2 and MMP-9, and protein expression of p-JAK2 and p-STAT3 were determined by MTT, scratch, Transwell, real-time qPCR, and western blot assay, respectively. Results: The cell viability of MHCC-97H cells treated with 25 μmol/L dicentrine at 48 and 72 h, and 50 and 100 μmol/L dicentrine at 24, 48, and 72 h was decreased significantly, which was significantly different from that of the control group (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). Compared with control group, cell adhesion ability, wound healing ability, cell penetration modulus, gene expression of VEGF, MMP-2 and MMP-9, and protein expression of p-JAK2 and p-STAT3 of MHCC-97H cells treated with 5, 10 and 25 μmol/L dicentrine at 24 h were decreased significantly (P < 0.05 or P < 0.01). Conclusion: Dicentrine can inhibit the migration and invasion of human hepatocellular carcinoma MHCC97-H cells, which is related to the down-regulation of VEGF, MMP-2, and MMP-9 gene expression and inhibition of JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway activation.