Anti-invasive effect of gambogic acid in MDA-MB-231 human breast carcinoma cells

Gambogic acid (GA) has been known to have antitumor activity in vitro and in vivo. In the present study, we investigated the anti-invasive effects of GA in MDA-MB-231 human breast carcinoma cells. The results indicated that GA significantly inhibited the adhesion, migration, and invasion of the cells in vitro tested by the heterotypic adhesion assay, wound migration assay, and chamber invasion assay. Results of Western blotting and immunocytochemistry analysis showed that GA could suppress the expressions of matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2) and 9 (MMP-9) in MDA-MB-231 cells. Furthermore, gelatin zymography revealed that GA decreased the activities of MMP-2 and MMP-9. Additionally, GA exerted an inhibitory effect on the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and JNK, while it had no effect on p38. Taken together, our results demonstrated the anti-invasive property of GA for the first time and indicated it could serve as a promising drug for the treatment of cancer metastasis.