Suppression of hepatoma cell invasion in culture by resveratrol and its modes of action

摘要

During cancer cell proliferation, some cells gain the ability to secede from primary tumor tissues. They are then transported in vessels to a target tissue or organ, adhere to endothelial cells, invade and proliferate again. This consecutive event is called metastasis. The invasion of cancer cells is an important and characteristic step of metastasis (Liotta et al., 1983) and blockage of this biological event by drugs or food factors will prolong the life span of an affected host. Resveratrol (3,5,4'-trihydroxy-trans-stilbene), which is present in grape and other plants, is a phytoalexin with antioxidative activity. This compound has cancer chemopreventive activity (Jang et al., 1997) and suppresses tumor growth (Carbo et al, 1999, Surh et al., 1999). In this study, the effect of resveratrol on the invasion of AH109A cells, a ratascites hepatoma cell line, was investigated in a co-culture system of the hepatoma cells with mesentery-derived mesothelial cells (M-cells). Using AH109A cells pretreated with hypoxanthine (HX) and xanthine oxidase (XO), we attempted to demonstrate the importance of the antioxidative activity of resveratrol in inhibiting the tumor cell invasion.