Inhibition on proliferation,migration and invasion in human hepatocellular carcinoma SMMC-7721 cells by arsenic trioxide

Objective To investigate the effects of arsenic trioxide(As2O3) on proliferation,migration and invasion and its molecular mechanism in human hepatocellular carcinoma SMMC-7721 cells.Methods The effects of As2O3 for proliferation,migration and invasion were examined by MTs/PMS assay.Wound Healing assay,Trans-well assay and the expression of mRNA and protein of MMP-9 were determined by Real-time PCR and Western blot in SMMC-7721 cells respectively.Results MTs/PMS assay indicated As2O3 inhibited the proliferation of tumor cells.Wound Healing assay discovered that the scuffing distance of SMMC-7721 cells exposed to 2.0 μmol/L As2O3 for 12 h and 24 h was significantly increased compared with no treatment group,which indicated As2O3 could inhibit migration in SMMC-7721 cells(P0.05).Transwel1 assay showed that the number of SMMC-7721 cells migrated through the Matrigel treated obviously decreased compared with no treatment group,respectively,which indicated As2O3 could inhibit invasion in SMMC-7721 cells(P0.05).Real-time PCR and Western blot showed that expression of MMP-9 mRNA and protein was down-regulated in SMMC-7721 cells treated by 2.0 μmol/L As2O3.Conclusions As2O3 could inhibit tumor cell proliferation,migration invasion and tumor metastasis.