Matrine suppresses invasion and metastasis of NCI-H1299 cells by enhancing microRNA-133a expression.

Matrine has been proved to inhibit proliferation and induce apoptosis of human lung cancer cells. However, less studies involved in evaluating the effects and mechanism of matrine in cell migration and invasion of lung cancer. This study was aim to investigate the involvement of miR-133a in matrine's anti-invasion and anti-metastasis in lung cancer. MTT assay was used to assess the inhibition of proliferation effects of matrine in NCI-H1299 cells. Migration and invasion abilities of NCI-H1299 cells were investigated by Transwell assays. Expression of miR-133a was detected by real-time PCR. Anti-miR technique was applied to inhibit miR-133a in matrine treated HCI-H1299 cells. Real-time PCR and Western blotting were performed to evaluate the activation of EGFR/Akt/MMP-9 pathway. As results, matrine treatment significantly inhibited proliferation, migration and invasion of NCI-H1299 cells in a concentration-dependent manner, accompanied by significantly elevation of miR-133a expression. However, matrine failed to inhibit the metastatic ability when cells transfected with anti-miR-133a. Matrine treatment also suppressed activation of EGFR/Akt/MMP-9 pathway. The inhibitory effects of matrine on activation of EGFR pathway were also reversed by anti-miR-133a transfection in NCI-H1299 cells. In conclusion, matrine inhibited the invasion and metastasis of lung cancer cell by elevating expression of miR-133a which further suppressed activation of EGFR/Akt/MMP-9 pathway.