Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common human
malignancy, accounting for 600,000 death cases annually worldwide.
Chrysophanol is a naturally occurring
anthraquinone compound and exhibits anti-neoplastic activities. This study aims to explore the biological effects of
chrysophanol on CRC
metastasis and the relevant underlying mechanism. Cell proliferation assay,
wound scratch assay, and Transwell invasion assay were used to examine the effect of
chrysophanol on proliferation, migration, and invasion of CRC cells.
Hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α)
shRNA was utilized to transfect CRC cells to examine the role of HIF-1α in
chrysophanol suppression of
hypoxia-induced epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT). The suppression effect of
chrysophanol on
hypoxia-induced EMT in vivo was also validated in xenograft
tumor models. In the present study, our findings indicated that
chrysophanol has the capability to suppress
hypoxia-induced EMT in CRC in vitro and in vivo, and the possible mechanism involved is the inhibition of HIF-1α via modulating PI3k/Akt signaling pathway. Collectively, the results indicated that
chrysophanol can be used as an EMT and
cancer metastasis inhibitor in the treatment of CRC. Anat Rec, 302:1561-1570, 2019. © 2019 American Association for Anatomy.