Original article
Demethylwedelolactone derivatives inhibit invasive growth in vitro and lung
metastasis of MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells in nude mice
Yean-Jang Lee a
, Wea-Lung Lin b,1
, Nai-Fang Chen c
, Shien-Kai Chuang c
, Tsui-Hwa Tseng c,d,*
a
Department of Chemistry, National Changhua University of Education, No. 1, Jin-De Road, Changhua 500, Taiwan
b
Department of Pathology, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, No. 110, Section 1, Chien-Kuo N. Road, Taichung 402, Taiwan
c
School of Applied Chemistry, Chung Shan Medical University, No. 110, Section 1, Chien-Kuo N. Road, Taichung 402, Taiwan
d
Department of Medical Education, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, No. 110, Section 1, Chien-Kuo N. Road, Taichung 402, Taiwan
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 30 May 2012
Received in revised form
16 July 2012
Accepted 24 July 2012
Available online 1 August 2012
Keywords:
Demethylwedelolactone
Wedelolactone
Invasion
Breast cancer
a b s t r a c t
The anticancer properties of demethylwedelolactone (DWEL) and wedelolactone (WEL), which are
naturally occurring coumestans, have not been well characterized. In this study, we investigated the antiinvasive
effects of synthetic WEL and DWEL on human MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. We found that
WEL and DWEL inhibited the anchorage-independent growth and also suppressed cell motility and cell
invasion of MDA-MB-231 cells. In addition, WEL and DWEL reduced the activity and expression of matrix
metalloproteinases (MMPs) involved in blocking the IkB-a/NFkB and MEK/ERK signaling pathways in
MDA-MB-231 cells. Furthermore, DWEL suppressed the metastasis and lung colonization of the tumor
cells in the nude mice. Altogether, these data suggest that DWEL derivatives exert anti-invasive growth
effect on breast cancer cells.
Ó 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Breast cancer is one of the most common malignancies among
Western populations. Although recent advances have been made in
the diagnosis and treatment of tumors, the development of clinical
metastasis remains a signiﬁcant cause of mortality from this
disease [1]. Recently, natural products have been the subject of
many drug discovery efforts [2,3]. In Asian countries, herbal teas
have been used as both food and medicine throughout recorded
history and are one of the natural sources of biologically active
compounds. As part of our recent research to develop new
biologically active substances, we were attracted to the coumestans
[4] and phenanthraquinones [5], which are common components
of biologically important natural products and pharmaceutical
agents [6].
The development of metastasis is characterized by the aggressive
spread of malignant tumor cells from the primary tumor to
distant organs and represents a major cause of death in cancer
patients. Metastasis is proposed to be largely dependent upon the
ability of tumor cells to invade the barrier formed by the basement
membrane and migrates to adjacent tissues. Tumor invasion
involves aberrant alterations in cell motility, cell adhesion, and
extracellular protease production [7,8]. Of these proteases, the
matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), a group of zinc-dependent
extracellular matrix (ECM)-degrading enzymes which participate
in the degradation of environmental barriers, are thought to play
a critical role in tumor cell invasion. Therefore, MMP inhibitors are
being developed as anti-cancer or chemoprevention agents. In
addition, many reports have demonstrated that the ability of
a cancer cell to invade its surroundings generally results from
aberrant cell signaling mechanisms. Several signaling pathways,
such as the nuclear factor-kB (NF-kB) and mitogen-activated
protein kinases (MAPKs) signaling pathways, have been reported
to be involved in the initiation of the invasion process of tumor cells
[9e12]. Therefore, any agent that can block the signaling pathways
involved in the invasion process may represent a powerful tool for
the prevention and therapy of metastasis.
Demethylwedelolactone (DWEL) and wedelolactone (WEL)
(Fig. 1) are naturally occurring coumestans from Eclipta alba and
Wedelia calendulacea [13]. These plants are used as traditional Asian
and South American medicine for the treatment of septic shock,
liver diseases, viral infections, and snake bites [14,15]. WEL has
been demonstrated to exhibit a wide range of biological effects,
including the inhibition of IKK kinase, Naþ
, Kþ
-ATPase activity,
* Corresponding author. School of Applied Chemistry, Chung Shan Medical
University, No. 110, Section 1, Chien-Kuo N. Road, Taichung 402, Taiwan. Tel.: þ886
4 24730022; fax: þ886 4 23248189.
E-mail address: tht@csmu.edu.tw (T.-H. Tseng).
1
Contributed as the ﬁrst author.
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry
journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ejmech
0223-5234/$ e see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ejmech.2012.07.041
European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 56 (2012) 361e367
hepatitis virus C RNA-polymerase, and phospholipase A2 [14e17].
Recent research has highlighted the antitumor effects of WEL.
Extracts of Wedelia chinensis, as well as combinations of its active
components, including WEL, apigenin, and luteloin, were found to
suppress the growth of prostate cancer cells in vitro and in vivo
[18,19]. Furthermore, WEL was shown to inhibit the growth of
pituitary adenoma cells and mammary carcinosarcomas in vitro
[20,21]. WEL was also found to suppress cellular growth and to
induce apoptosis of androgen receptor-negative MDA-MB-231
breast cancer cells, an activity that was attributed to its inhibition of
DNA topoisomerase IIa and suppression of DNA synthesis [22].
However, the anti-invasive property of WEL in cancer cells is not
well characterized, and our understanding of the biological activities
of DWEL remains limited. In the present report, we investigated
the mechanism(s) underlying the anti-invasive growth effects of
synthetic WEL and DWEL on MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells.
Our investigation also demonstrated an inhibitory effect of DWEL
on the lung metastasis and colonization of breast cancer cells in
nude mice.
2. Results and discussion
2.1. Cytotoxicity and anchorage-independent growth inhibition of
WEL and DWEL in MDA-MB-231 cells
We evaluated the cytotoxicity of WEL and DWEL in human
MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells by MTT assay after treatment for
24 h. Treatment with either WEL or DWEL exhibited signiﬁcant
differences in cell viability compared to the control-treated cells at
concentrations of 25e100 mM (Fig. 2A). We further examined the
anti-invasive effects of WEL and DWEL at concentrations that were
sub-lethal or non-toxic for these cells. Soft agar growth assays can
provide a system in which to mimic the molecular events involved
in tumor metastatic dissemination, because tumor cells reside,
proliferate, and invade to form colonies in soft agar. Thus, we used
soft agar assays to evaluate the anti-metastatic potential of WEL
and DWEL. As shown in Fig. 2B, both WEL and DWEL inhibited the
colony formation of MDA-MB-231 cells in a dose-dependent
manner.
2.2. Effects of WEL and DWEL on cell motility and invasion in MDAMB-231
cells
To better understand the anti-invasive effects of WEL and DWEL,
we ﬁrst examined the motility and invasion of MDA-MB-231 cells
with or without the treatment of WEL or DWEL. According to our
results, WEL and DWE showed cytotoxicity signiﬁcantly in the
concentration of 25e100 mM and treatment for 24 h. To decrease
the interference in the anti-invasive evaluation all the assay were
performed in the concentration of 0e20 mM and treatment for 12 h.
By scratch motility assay, the MDA-MB-231 cells exhibited wound
closure activity, whereas WEL- or DWEL-treated cells (12 h)
decreased this activity signiﬁcantly (Fig. 3). Because cytoskeletal
proteins have been linked with cell motility [23,24], we investigated
possible cytoskeletal alterations by ﬂuorescence microscopy
using TRITC-conjugated phalloidin staining of the actin cytoskeleton.
As shown in Fig. 4A, MDA-MB-231 cells that were cultured in
complete medium showed spindle-shaped with loose cellecell
contact. Treatment with WEL and DWEL resulted in actin reorganization
and changed the invasive phenotype morphology of MDAMB-231
cells that were cultured in complete medium (Fig. 4A). In
addition, focal adhesion kinase (FAK) is an intracellular proteintyrosine
kinase that acts as a coordinator of cell motilityassociated
signaling events [25,26]. Thus, we assessed the effects
of WEL and DWEL on the activation of FAK. WEL and DWEL
inhibited the phosphorylation of FAK in a dose-dependent manner
Fig. 1. The chemical structure of WEL and DWEL.
Concentration 0 10 25 50 100 ( M)
*
*
*
*
* *
** **
*
Cellviability(%)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
WEL
DWEL
*
**
*
**
**
**
colonynumber/field
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
WEL
DWEL
0 5 10 20 ( M)
* *
**
**
**
**
µ
µ
A
B
Fig. 2. The effects of WEL and DWEL on cell viability and anchorage-independent
growth on MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. (A) Cells were treated with the indicated
concentrations of WEL or DWEL (0e100 mM) for 24 h. The viability of MDA-MB-
231 cells was measured by MTT assay. *P < 0.05 and **P < 0.001 versus control (0.2% of
DMSO). (B) After treatment with various concentrations of DWEL or WEL (0e20 mM)
for 24 h, the cells were seeded into 6-well plates in culture medium containing 0.33%
low-melting agarose over a 0.5% agarose layer. After 3 weeks, the colonies were
counted. Data are represented as the means Æ SD of 3 independent experiments.
*P < 0.01 and **P < 0.001 versus control (0.2% of DMSO).
Y.-J. Lee et al. / European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 56 (2012) 361e367362
(Fig. 4B). Next, we examined the anti-invasive effects of WEL and
DWEL on MDA-MB-231 cells. After pretreatment with or without
WEL and DWEL for 12 h, the cells were harvested for Boyden
chamber assay. Our data indicated that WEL and DWEL pretreatment
decreased the invasive capacity of MDA-MB-231 cells in
a dose-dependent manner (Fig. 5).
2.3. Effects of WEL and DWEL on the activity and expression of
MMP-2 and MMP-9
The secretion of extracellular proteases plays an important role
in cancer metastasis. Of these proteases, the matrix metalloproteinases
(MMPs), a group of zinc-dependent ECM-degrading
enzymes, are thought to play a critical role in tumor cell invasion.
The activity and expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 have been found
to correlate with the metastatic potential of tumor cells [27]. As
shown in Fig. 6A, the activity of MMP-2 and MMP-9 is increased in
MDA-MB-231 cells in a time-dependent manner. Treatment with
DWEL inhibited MMP-2 and MMP-9 activity apparently. In addition,
the individual activities of MMP-9 and MMP-2 can be inhibited
by tissue inhibitor metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) and tissue
inhibitor metalloproteinase-2 (TIMP-2), respectively [28]. Thus, we
evaluated the effects of WEL and DWEL on the protein expression of
MMPs and TIMPs. We found that treatment with WEL and DWEL
resulted in reduced expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 and
increased expression of TIMP-1 and TIMP-2 (Fig. 6B).
2.4. Effects of WEL and DWEL on the signaling pathway involving
invasion
The ability of a cancer cell to invade its surroundings is an
important hallmark of malignant tumors and results from aberrant
cell signaling mechanisms. The signal transduction that leads to
tumor invasion is composed of a complex network. NFkB and
MAPKs (such as ERK1/2, JNK 1/2, and p38) have been reported to be
important mediators of pro-invasive signaling [9e12]. NF-kB is
a heterodimeric complex of Rel family proteins, and its activation
transduces the signal from upstream stimuli, such as cytokines,
mitogens, growth factors, and bacterial and viral gene products
[29,30]. Accordingly, elevated levels of NF-kB are frequently
detected in breast cancer cells, and NF-kB is a downstream mediator
of growth signaling in estrogen receptor-negative cancers that
exhibit invasive phenotypes [31]. Because WEL has been reported
to be an IKK inhibitor, we examined the effects of WEL and DWEL
on the phosphorylation of IkB-a in MDA-MB-231 cells. We found
that after 3e24 h of treatment, DWEL inhibited the phosphorylation
of IkB-a, which might initiate activation of the NFkB signal
pathway. Similarly, WEL signiﬁcantly inhibited phosphorylation of
IkB-a after treatment for 12e24 h (Fig. 7A). Furthermore, WEL and
DWEL exhibited dose-dependent inhibitory effects on IkB-a phosphorylation,
signiﬁcantly inhibiting phosphorylation after treatment
for 12 h (Fig. 7B). Furthermore, both WEL and DWEL inhibited
the phosphorylation of ERK (Fig. 7B). We next examined the effects
of signaling inhibitors including an NFkB inhibitor (pyrrolidine
dithiocarbamate, PDTC) and a MEK/ERK inhibitor (PD98059) on the
expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in MDA-MB-231 cells. We found
Fig. 3. The effects of WEL and DWEL on the cell motility of MDA-MB-231 cells. The
serum-starved cells grown in monolayer were scratched with a pipette tip and then
treated with or without various concentrations of WEL or DWEL in serum-containing
media for 12 h. The cell motility was assessed by microscope. (A) Photographs of the
administration representative were taken when the wound was created at 0 h and
again at 12 h. (B) The histogram represents the number of cells that migrated into the
wound at 12 h. The quantiﬁed results of the experiment were performed on 5 distinct
ﬁelds along the wound in 3 independent experiments. **P < 0.001 versus control.
Fig. 4. The effects of WEL and DWEL on the morphology of and FAK phosphorylation
in MDA-MB-231 cells. (A) Cells were cultured in serum-free medium for 24 h and then
were treated with or without 20 mM of WEL or DWEL for 12 h in DMEM medium with
10% FBS. The F-actin was stained with TRITC-conjugated phalloidin, which exhibited
a red ﬂuorescence. (B) The MDA-MB-231 cells were treated with WEL or DWEL
(0e20 mM) for 12 h. The cell lysates were subjected to immunoblotting analysis using
phospho-speciﬁc antibodies against phospho-FAK and antibodies against total FAK and
b-actin (loading control).
Y.-J. Lee et al. / European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 56 (2012) 361e367 363
that both inhibitors suppressed the expression of MMP-2 and
MMP-9 (Fig. 7C). Notably, WEL has been demonstrated by Benes
et al. to suppress growth and induce apoptosis in MDA-MB-231
breast cancer cells. However, the activity of NF-kB was not
affected by treatment with 30 mM WEL for 8 h [22], suggesting that
the growth-suppressing effects of WEL are likely a result of its
ability to inhibit topoisomerase IIa and DNA synthesis. Our results
demonstrated that WEL signiﬁcantly inhibited phosphorylation of
IkB-a after treatment for 12 h and that DWEL also exhibited potent
inhibitory effects (Fig. 7A). Concentrations of WEL and DWEL
between 5 and 20 mM inhibited the phosphorylation of IkB-a in
MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells treated for 12 h (Fig. 7B), which
might have suppressed the activation of NF-kB, resulting in
decreased expression of MMPs (Fig. 7C). In addition, FAK was reported
to mediate cancer cell invasion by regulating focal adhesion
and signaling connections [25]. FAK has been proposed to enhance
the activation of ERK, which promotes transcriptional upregulation
of proteases [26]. Taken together, our data indicate for the ﬁrst time
that WEL and DWEL can inhibit the invasiveness of MDA-MB-231
human breast cancer cells by inhibiting the FAK, ERK, and NFkB
signaling pathways, thereby inhibiting MMP-2 and MMP-9.
2.5. Inhibitory effects of DWEL on lung colonization of cancer cells
in nude mice
Our previous in vitro data indicated that DWEL exhibits more
potent anti-invasive and kinase inhibitory effects than WEL. We
assessed whether DWEL would decrease the ability of MDA-MB-
231 cells to colonize the lungs of nude mice. Four weeks after
intravenous (i.v.) injection of the MDA-MB-231 cells, all mice
including cell-free vehicle-injected group (normal), cancer cellinjected
group (positive control group), and cancer cell-injected
with DWEL-pretreated groups were euthanized and pulmonary
colonization of cancer cells was examined for the development of
lung metastasis. Both the size and total weight of the lungs were
signiﬁcantly increased in the positive control group compared with
Fig. 5. The effects of WEL and DWEL on the invasiveness of MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. The invasion assay was performed using the Boyden chamber assay as described in the
text. (A) A representative photograph of MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells after invasion. (B) Cells that had invaded the lower surface of the membranes were counted in 5 randomly
selected ﬁelds per well (n ¼ 4) using a light microscope. *P < 0.01 and **P < 0.001, compared with the solvent control.
Y.-J. Lee et al. / European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 56 (2012) 361e367364
the normal group. Moreover, mice injected with DWEL exhibited
decreases in the size and total weight of the lungs (Fig. 8A and B).
Furthermore, histological examination of the lungs revealed that
the positive control group had signiﬁcantly more massive tumor
cells, which exhibited a solid histological appearance. The groups
that were pretreated with DWEL exhibited reduced metastasis
(Fig. 8C). These data demonstrate that DWEL derivatives exhibit
anti-invasive and anti-growth effects on cancer cells.
3. Conclusion
In conclusion, DWEL and WEL inhibited cancer cell motility and
altered multiple signaling pathways, suppressing the invasion and
growth of MDA-MB-231 cells. Both DWEL and WEL reduced the
phosphorylation of FAK, ERK and IkB-a, thereby mediating the
downregulation of MMPs. Lastly, DWEL treatment suppressed the
lung metastasis and colonization of these cancer cells in nude mice.
In addition, both WEL and DWEL exhibited anti-invasive effects on
other invasive cancer cell-types, such as SK-Hep1 hepatoma cells
(data not shown). Our data clearly indicate that DWEL derivatives
hold signiﬁcant potential as anti-tumor progression agents. Our
in vitro data indicated that DWEL is more effective than WEL. Further
investigation is required to clarify the structureeactivity relationship
of DWEL derivatives and their applications in cancer treatment.
4. Experimental protocols
4.1. Materials
Anti-phospho-FAK (p-FAK), -phospho-IkB-a (p-IkB-a), -phosphoERK1/2
(Thr202
/Tyr204
; p-ERK1/2), -phospho-JNK/SAPK (Thr183
/
Tyr185
; p-JNK), and -phospho-p38 (Thr180
/Tyr182
; p-p38) antibodies
were purchased from Cell Signaling Technology (Beverly, MA, USA).
Other antibodies, including anti-ERK1/2, -JNK/SAPK, -p38, -FAK,
-MMP-2, -MMP-9, -TIMP-1, -TIMP-2 and -b-actin antibodies, were
obtained from Santa Cruz Biotechnology (Santa Cruz, CA). Matrigel is
a solubilized basement membrane preparation extracted from
murine sarcomas, containing laminin, type IV collagen, proteoglycans,
and growth factors (Collaborative Research, Bedford, MA).
Other chemical reagents were purchased from SigmaeAldrich (St.
Louis, MO). WEL and DWEL were synthesized from commercially
available phloroglucinol [4].
4.2. Cell culture
The estrogen-independent, invasive human breast cancer cells,
MDA-MB-231, obtained from the American Type Culture Collection
(ATCC, Manassas, VA), were cultured in Dulbecco’s Modiﬁed
Eagle’s medium (DMEM) supplemented with 10% heat-inactivated
fetal bovine serum (FBS), 2 mM glutamine, and 1%
penicillinestreptomycineneomycin. Cells were maintained at 37 C
in an incubator with 5% CO2 and 95% air.
Fig. 6. The effects of WEL and DWEL on MMP-2 and MMP-9 in MDA-MB-231 cells.
(A) The activities of MMP-2 and MMP-9 were evaluated by zymography. Media from
MDA-MB-231 cells treated with or without WEL or DWEL for the indicated times were
subjected to electrophoresis as described in the text. (B) MDA-MB-231 cells were
treated with WEL and DWEL for 12 h. The total cell lysates were prepared and subjected
to immunoblot analysis against MMP-9, MMP-2, TIMP1, TIMP2 and b-actin
(loading control).
Fig. 7. The effects of WEL and DWEL on IkB-a and MAPKs and their association with
MMPs in MDA-MB-231 cells. (A) The MDA-MB-231 cells were treated with 20 mM of
WEL or DWEL for the indicated times. The cell lysates were subjected to immunoblot
analysis using phospho-speciﬁc antibodies against p-IkB-a and IkB-a. (B) The MDAMB-231
cells were treated with 5, 10, 20 mM of WEL or DWEL for 12 h. The cell
lysates were subjected to immunoblot analysis using phospho-speciﬁc antibodies
against p-IkB-a, p-ERK, p-JNK/SAPK, and p-p38, which react with the active forms of
the respective kinases. The blots were also probed with antibodies against total IkB-a,
ERK, JNK/SAPK, p38, and b-actin antibodies. (C) The effects of the signaling inhibitors
on the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 were evaluated by immunoblot analysis using
antibodies against MMP-2, MMP-9, and b-actin (loading control).
Y.-J. Lee et al. / European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 56 (2012) 361e367 365
4.3. Cytotoxicity assay
Cancer cells were seeded into 24-well plates (5 Â 104
cells/well)
and cultured in complete medium for 24 h. Cells were treated with
or without WEL and DWEL (0e100 mM) for 24 h. The medium was
subsequently changed and incubated in the presence of 10 ml of
3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide
(MTT) dye solution for 4 h. The number of viable cells was directly
proportional to the production of formazan, which was then dissolved
with DMSO and measured using a spectrophotometer at
570 nm.
4.4. Anchorage-independent growth assay
MDA-MB-231 cells were treated with WEL or DWEL (0e20 mM)
for 24 h. The cells (5 Â 103
) were suspended in 1 ml of 0.33% basal
Eagle medium (BEM) agarose containing 10% FBS and then overlaid
with 3.5 ml of 0.5% BME agarose containing 10% FBS. The cells were
cultured at 37 C in 5% CO2 and 95% air. After 21 days, the colonies
were counted under an inverted microscope at 40Â magniﬁcation.
4.5. Scratch assay
Forty thousand MDA-MB-231 cells were plated into 6-well
plates and cultured overnight. The cell monolayers were
scratched with a pipette tip, washed with PBS to remove the
ﬂoating cells and photographed before (0 h) and at 12 and 24 h after
the application of 5, 10, or 20 mM WEL and DWEL. The number of
cells that migrated into the scratched area was photographed and
counted in 5 randomly selected ﬁelds (100Â magniﬁcation) in 3
independent experiments and the mean value per ﬁeld was
calculated.
4.6. Microscopic examination
Cells were seeded into a 6-well culture dish. After 24 h, they
were starved of serum (0.1%) overnight and were then treated with
indicated concentrations of WEL or DWEL for 12 h. Cells were ﬁxed
in 4% paraformaldehyde for 10 min and then permeabilized in 0.1%
triton X-100 in PBS for 5 min. The morphology was assessed by
inverted microscopy. Cytoskeletal changes were analyzed using
ﬂuorescence microscopy by staining with TRITC-conjugated phalloidin
F-actin (500 ng/ml) for 1 h. Images were acquired on a ﬂuorescence
microscope (Nikon Microscope SE, Nippon Kogaku KK,
Tokyo, Japan) at 100Â magniﬁcation.
4.7. In vitro cell invasion assay
Matrigel (BD Transduction Laboratories) was diluted 1:25 with
serum-free DMEM. Ten microliters of diluted Matrigel was used to
coat the top of each Boyden chamber and allowed to gel for 4 h at
room temperature. MDA-MB-231 cells were pretreated with or
without the indicated concentrations of WEL or DWEL for 12 h. The
cells (2 Â 105
cells/ml) were suspended in serum-free media, and
50 ml of suspended cells was placed into the upper chamber. The
complete growth medium (10% FBS) was placed in the lower
chamber. After incubation for 12 h, the cells on the upper surface of
the ﬁlter were wiped with a cotton swab. The cells on the lower
surface of the ﬁlters were ﬁxed for 10 min with methanol and
stained with Giemsa for 1 h, and the cells that had invaded the
lower surface of the ﬁlter were then counted by light microscopy
(200Â). For each replicate (n ¼ 4), the cells in 5 randomly selected
ﬁelds were determined, and the counts were averaged.
4.8. Western blotting analysis
The cells were washed with PBS plus zinc ion (1 mM) and lysed
in radio immunoprecipitation assay (RIPA) buffer (50 mM Trisbuffer,
5 mM EDTA, 150 mM NaCl, 1% NP 40, 0.5% deoxycholic
acid, 1 mM sodium orthovanadate, 81 mg/ml aprotinin, 170 mg/ml
Fig. 8. The effect of DWEL on the lung colonization by MDA-MB-231 cells in nude
mice. The female mice were divided into 4 groups (n ¼ 6). DWEL was administered
(i.p.) 3 times/week for 5 weeks. After 1 week of DWEL administration, MDA-MB-231
cells (1 Â 106
) were suspended in 100 ml of DMEM and injected into the tail veins of
the positive control group and the DWEL-treated group. Mice were sacriﬁced 4 weeks
after injection and the lungs were harvested for assessment. (A) The representative
pictures of lung size were photographed. (B) The whole lung weight was measured.
Data are presented as the means Æ SD (n ¼ 6). **P < 0.001, compared with the positive
control group. ##
P < 0.001, compared with the normal group. (C) A representative
histological view of the lung sections (H & E stain, 100Â) was photographed. Scale
bar ¼ 100 mm.
Y.-J. Lee et al. / European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 56 (2012) 361e367366
leupeptin, and 100 mg/ml PMSF; pH 7.5). After mixing for 30 min at
4 C, the mixtures were centrifuged (10,000Â g) for 10 min, and the
supernatants were collected as whole-cell extracts. The protein
content was determined with the Bio-Rad protein assay reagent
using bovine serum albumin as a standard. The samples containing
50e100 mg of proteins were boiled in Laemmli sample buffer,
separated on SDS polyacrylamide gel, electrophoretically
transferred to nitrocellulose membranes (Amersham, Arlington
Heights, IL) and blotted with the indicated primary antibodies.
The proteins were visualized with the horseradish peroxidase
(HRP)-conjugated secondary antibodies (Zymed Laboratory, Inc.,
South San Francisco, CA), followed by chemiluminescence
detection (ECL-Plus; Santa Cruz Biotechnology). The relative
photographic density was quantitated by densitometry.
4.9. Zymography assay of MMP-2 and MMP-9
The activities of MMP-2 and MMP-9 from conditioned media
were measured by gelatin-zymogram protease assays. First, cells
were seeded into 6 cm2
dishes at a density of 4 Â 105
cells/ml
overnight and treated with 20 mM of WEL or DWEL for 0e12 h. The
media were subjected to electrophoresis with 8% SDSpolyacrylamide
gel containing 0.1% gelatin. Electrophoresis was
performed at 150 V for 3 h. After the electrophoresis, the gels were
washed three times with 100 ml distilled water (pH 7.4) containing
50 mM TriseHCl and 2% Triton X-100 on a gyratory shaker for
30 min at room temperature to remove SDS. Then, the gel was
incubated in reaction solution (10 mM CaCl2, 0.01% NaN3, 40 mM
TriseHCl; pH 8.0) for 16 h at 37 C, stained with 0.125% Coomassie
blue R-250 (in 50% methanol and 10% acetic acid) for 1 h with
shaking at room temperature, and then destained with methanol/
acetic acid/water (50/75/875, v/v/v).
4.10. Experimental metastasis assay in nude mice
Six-week-old female athymic nude mice (BALB/c-nu) were
purchased from GlycoNex Inc. (Taiwan) and maintained in cage
housing in a speciﬁcally designed pathogen-free isolation facility
with a 12/12 h light/dark cycle. Rodent chow and water were
provided ad libitum. All experiments were conducted in accordance
with the guidelines of the Chung Shan Medical University Animal
Ethics Research Board. The mice were intraperitoneally (i.p.)
administered either 100 ml of phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) or
100 ml of vehicle containing DWEL (5 mg/kg and 20 mg/kg) 3 times/
week (n ¼ 6). After 1 week, MDA-MB-231 cells (1 Â 106
) were
resuspended in 100 ml of PBS and injected into the tail vein to
generate metastasis in nude mice. The mice were euthanized 4
weeks after the injection of cancer cells. The size and weight of the
lungs were assessed. Furthermore, the hematoxylin-stained lung
sections were histologically evaluated for the presence or absence
of disseminated cancer cells within the lung. Other
organs including the liver and kidney were immediately frozen,
ﬁxed in 10% neutral-buffered formalin, and embedded in
parafﬁn. To monitor drug toxicity, the body weight of each
animal was measured weekly, and a pathologist examined the mice
organs.
4.11. Statistical analysis
Statistical signiﬁcance was determined by one-way analysis of
variance (ANOVA) with the post hoc Dunnett’s test. P values less
than 0.05 were considered statistically signiﬁcant.
Acknowledgments
This study was supported by grants from the National Science
Council (NSC 99-2320-B-040-001) and Chung Shan Medical
University (CSMU 99-OM-A-064). Densitometry was performed at
the Instrument Center of Chung Shan Medical University, which is
supported by the National Science Council, Ministry of Education
and Chung Shan Medical University.
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