Andrographolide, a major constituent of Andrographis paniculata, was previously shown to exhibit anti-inflammatory, antiviral, and anticancer activities. The anticancer activity of andrographolide includes growth suppression, apoptosis promotion, antiangiogenesis, and antitransformation. However, the effect of andrographolide on cancer metastasis, the most malignant feature of cancer, has not been elucidated extensively. In the present study, we demonstrated that andrographolide at nontoxic to subtoxic concentrations (0.3-3 µM) suppressed the invasion ability of CT26 cells in Matrigel-based invasion assays. In addition, the expression of cell adhesion regulators (β-catenin and ILK) was not altered by andrographolide treatment. However, andrographolide indeed inhibited matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP2) activity without affecting its expression. Furthermore, the activation of ERK, but not Akt, was attenuated by andrographolide treatment. Notably, a similar inhibitory effect of andrographolide on the invasion and MMP2 activity of the human colon cancer cell line HT29 was also observed. In summary, our results indicate that andrographolide exhibits anti-invasive activity against colon cancer cells via inhibition of MMP2 activity.
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