Therapeutic intervention of proanthocyanidins on the migration capacity of melanoma cells is mediated through PGE2 receptors and β-catenin signaling molecules.

Melanoma is a highly aggressive form of skin cancer and a leading cause of death from skin diseases mainly due to its propensity to metastasis. Due to metastatic tendency, melanoma is often associated with activation of Wnt/β-catenin signaling mechanism. Blocking β-catenin activation may be a good strategy to block melanoma-associated mortality. We have shown earlier that grape seed proanthocyanidins (GSPs) inhibit melanoma cell migration via targeting cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) overexpression. Here we explored further whether inhibition of inflammatory mediators-mediated activation of β-catenin by GSPs is associated with the inhibition of melanoma cell migration. Our study revealed that PGE2 receptors (EP2 and EP4) agonists promote melanoma cell migration while PGE2 receptor antagonist suppressed the migration capacity of melanoma cells. GSPs treatment inhibit butaprost (EP2 agonist) or Cay10580 (EP4 agonist) induced migration of melanoma cells. Western blot analysis revealed that GSPs reduced cellular accumulation of β-catenin, and decreased the expressions of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2, MMP-9 and MITF, downstream targets of β-catenin in melanoma cells. GSPs also reduced the protein expressions of PI3K and p-Akt in the same set of experiment. To verify that β-catenin is a specific molecular target of GSPs, we compared the effect of GSPs on cell migration of β-catenin-activated (Mel1241) and β-catenin-inactivated (Mel1011) melanoma cells. GSPs inhibit cell migration of Mel1241 cells but not of Mel1011 cells. Additionally, in vivo bioluminescence imaging data indicate that dietary administration of GSPs (0.5%, w/w) in supplementation with AIN76A control diet inhibited the migration/extravasation of intravenously injected melanoma cells in lungs of immune-compromised nude mice, and that this effect of GSPs was associated with an inhibitory effect on the activation of β-catenin and its downstream targets, such as MMPs, in lungs as a target organ.