Effects of propofol on pulmonary metastasis of intravenously injected MADB106 tumor cells and expression of E-cadherin and β-catenin in rats / 南方医科大学学报

ABSTRACT

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the effects of different doses of propofol on pulmonary metastasis of intravenous injected MADB106 tumor cells and the expression of E-cadherin and β-catenin in the metastatic tumor tissue in rats.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Forty Fischer 344 male rats were randomly divided into 4 groups (n=10) for intravenous administration of normal saline, intralipid, or propofol at 30 or 50 mg/kg via the femoral vein. One hour after the infusion, MADB106 tumor cells (2×10(5)) were injected intravenously in the rats. Three weeks later, pulmonary metastasis tumor foci and metastatic inhibitory rate were observed and the expression of E-cadherin and β-catenin in the metastatic tumor tissue were detected by immunohistochemistry.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Compared with the normal saline group, intralipid group showed no significant differences in the number of metastatic tumor foci in the lungs or E-cadherin and β-catenin expressions (P>0.05), which were all significantly lowered in the two propofol groups (P<0.05 or 0.01). The dose of propofol was inversely correlated with the number of metastasis tumor foci (r=-0.879) and expressions of E-cadherin (r=-0.755) and β-catenin (r=-0.693) (P<0.01).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>Propofol can dose-dependently suppress pulmonary metastasis of intravenous injected MADB106 tumor cells by inhibiting the Wnt/β-catenin pathway and down-regulating E-cadherin and β-catenin expressions in the metastatic tumor tissue.</p>