Phytomedicine 2011-01-01

Diosgenin inhibits the migration of human breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells by suppressing Vav2 activity

Zhongmei He, Hongyan Chen, Guofeng Li, Hongyan Zhu, Yugang Gao, Lianxue Zhang, Jiaming Sun

Index: Phytomedicine 21(6) , 871-6, (2014)

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Abstract

Diosgenin, a naturally occurring steroidal saponin, possess tumor therapeutic potential. However, the effect of diosgenin on cancer metastasis remains poorly understood. In this study, we performed in vitro experiments to investigate the inhibitory activity of diosgenin on human breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cell migration, and reveal the possible mechanism. Diosgenin caused a marked inhibition of cell migration in MDA-MB-231 cell by transwell assay. In addition, diosgenin significantly impacted MDA-MB-231 cell migratory behavior under real-time observation. We also found diosgenin significantly inhibited actin polymerization, Vav2 phosphorylation and Cdc42 activation, which might be, at least in part, attributed to the anti-metastatic potential of diosgenin. These findings reveal a new therapeutic potential of diosgenin for human breast cancer metastasis therapy.