Inhibitory effect and mechanism of matrine on the invasive ability of the colon cancer cell line HT-29 in vitro

Objective: To investigate the effect of matrine on the invasiveness and expression of heparanase-mRNA in the human colon cancer cell line HT-29.Methods: HT-29 cells were subjected to matrine of different concentrations.Forty-eight hours later,the expression of heparanase-mRNA was determined by semi-quantitative RT-PCR,and the level of HPSE protein by western blot.The effect of matrine on HT-29 cells was tested by cell Matrigel adhesion assay.The chemotactic migration and the invasive ability of HT-29 cells were determined by Matrigel invasion assay.Results: The expression of hepanase-mRNA and hepanase protein,adhesion,chemotactic migrations and invasiveness of matrine treated HT-29 cells significantly decreased compared with those of the controls(P0.01).The inhibitory effect was dose-dependent(P0.01).Conclusion: By downregulating the expression of heparanase-mRNA and hepanase protein,matrine has a significant inhibitory effect on the adhesion and invasiveness of the human colon cancer cell line HT-29 in a dose-dependent manner within a certain range.