Anthocyanins, present in various fruits and vegetables as natural colorant, have been well characterized to be involved in various bioactive properties and are wildly used for their
antioxidant properties. Furthermore, recent studies have revealed pleiotropic anticancer and antiproliferative capabilities of
anthocyanin. Berry extract contains high amounts of
anthocyanins and is commonly used in diet or in some therapeutic applications. In this study, we first observed that
cyanidin 3-rutinoside and
cyanidin 3-glucoside (extracted from Morus alba L.) exerted a dose-dependent inhibitory effect on the migration and invasion, of highly metastatic A549 human lung
carcinoma cells in absence of cytotoxicity. The results showed that
cyanidin 3-glucoside and
cyanidin 3-rutinoside treatments could decrease the expressions of matrix matalloprotinase-2 (MMP-2) and
urokinase-
plasminogen activator (
u-PA) in a dose-dependent manner and enhance the expression of tissue inhibitor of matrix matalloprotinase-2 (TIMP-2) and
plasminogen activator inhibitor (PAI). Further analysis with semi-quantitative RT-PCR showed that these alterations were all on the transcriptional level. Further, a treatment of
cyanidin 3-rutinoside and
cyanidin 3-glucoside also resulted in an inhibition on the activation of c-Jun and
NF-kappaB. Together, these result suggested that
anthocyanins could decrease the in vitro invasiveness of
cancer cells and therefore, may be of great value in developing a potential
cancer therapy.