Molecular mechanism of paeoniflorin regulating transforming growth factor-β in inhibiting the epithelial-mesenchymal transition of glioma U87 cells

Abstract

Objective To investigate the effect of paeoniflorin on epithelial-mesenchymal transition(EMT), migration and invasion of human glioma U87 cells and its underlying molecular mechanism. Methods Glioma U87 cells were treated with different dose of paeoniflorin.CCK-8 was used to measure the survival rate of glioma cells.Glioma U87 cells were infected with carrying transforming growth factor-β(TGF-β) lentivirus to establish the stable overexpression TGF-β cell line.Wound healing assay and transwell assay were performed to measure cell migration and invasion ability, respectively.Western blot was applied to examined the expression of related proteins. Results Treatment with proliferation of 5 mmol/L and 10 mmol/L had no significant effect on cell survival of U87 cells((96.00±3.61)%, (92.33±4.04)%; P5=0.593, P10=0.284). But when the dose was up to 15 mmol/L, the survival rate of U87 cells decreased to(75.67±4.58)%, P=0.008.In addition, paeoniflorin inhibited the migration ability of U87 cells and the wound healing rate was(68.20±4.39)%, (37.70±7.01)% when incubated with 5 mmol/L and 10 mmol/L.Similarly, paeoniflorin suppressed invasion ability of U87 cells and the average number of infiltrated cells was (237.67±24.00), (130.67±32.65), (59.67±18.15) respectively(P5=0.002, P10<0.01). What’s more, paeoniflorin down-regulated the expression of MMP2, MMP9 and epithelial-mesenchymal transition-related proteins(P<0.05). Overexpression of TGF-β reversed the effect of paeoniflorin on migration, invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition of glioma U87 cells. Conclusion Paeoniflorin suppress TGF-β-induced migration, invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition in glioma U87 cells. Key words: Paeoniflorin; Epithelial-mesenchymal transition; Transforming growth factor-β