Selaginella tamariscina inhibits the invasion on oral cancer cell

Objectives: Selaginella tamariscina is a traditional Chinese herb for the therapy of chronic trachitis and has been approved some anti-tumor activity. However, the anti-invasion and anti-metastasis effects of Selaginella tamariscina in the oral cancer have not been understood clearly.

Methods: Boyden chamber model was performed to investigate the impacts of Selaginella tamariscina in SCC-4 cells. Furthermore, zymography and western blotting were performed to further evaluate the impacts of Selaginella tamariscina on matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2, urokinase plasminogen activator (uPA) and their inhibitors in SCC-4 cells.

Results: Selaginella tamariscina exhibited a dose-dependent inhibitory effect on the invasion and migration of SCC-4 cells in the absence of cytotoxicity (P < 0.05). Selaginella tamariscina was also found to decrease the expressions of MMP-2 and uPA in a concentration-dependent manner together with altered expression levels of their endogenous inhibitors. Furthermore, semi-quantitative RT-PCR showed that Selaginella tamariscina may regulate the expressions of MMP-2 and u-PA on the transcriptional level.

Conclusion: Taken together, these results suggest that Selaginella tamariscina could inhibit the invasion and migration of human oral cancer cells. These results demonstrated that Selaginella tamariscina could be a candidate antimetastatic agent against oral cancer.