Oxymatrine suppresses proliferation and facilitates apoptosis of human ovarian cancer cells through upregulating microRNA-29b and downregulating matrix metalloproteinase-2 expression

Abstract

Oxymatrine, an alkaloid extracted from medicinal plants of the genus Sophora, has a wide range of pharmacological effects. Previous studies have revealed that oxymatrine can inhibit proliferation and metastasis of tumor cells through reducing matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) mRNA expression. However, the expression of MMP-2 in ovarian cancer is significantly higher than that in normal ovaries. Furthermore, the expression of microRNA-29b (miR-29b) in ovarian carcinoma is significantly lower than that in normal ovaries. Therefore, MMP-2 and miR-29b are tumor suppressor factors involved in ovarian cancer. To evaluate the anti-cancer effects of oxymatrine the OVCAR-3 ovary cancer cell line was treated with oxymatrine at the concentrations of 0, 0.5, 1 and 2 mg/ml. Assessment of the proliferation and apoptosis of OVCAR-3 cells showed that oxymatrine had an inhibitory effect on ovarian cancer cells. Furthermore, oxymatrine decreased the protein levels of MMP-2 and increased the expression levels of miR-29b in OVCAR-3 cells. Through transfection of miR-29b precursor into OVCAR-3 cells, it was demonstrated that miR-29b regulated MMP-2 expression in OVCAR-3 cells. In addition, anti-miR-29b antibodies were used to verify that the apoptotic effect of oxymatrine was due to upregulating miR-29b and downregulating MMP-2 expression. These results showed that oxymatrine suppresses the proliferation and facilitates apoptosis of human ovarian cancer cells through upregulating miR-29b and downregulating MMP-2 expression.