ID: 1029 Effects of carnosine on regulation of migration and invasion in human colorectal cancer cells

Colorectal cancer is the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in the word. Carnosine is an endogenous dipeptide found in vertebrate skeletal muscles. It is known to have anti-fatigue, antioxidative, antihypertensive, antidiabetic, and cancer inhibiting effects. However, little research has been done regarding its influence on the metastasis of colon cancer. This study cultivated HCT-116 human colon cancer cells as a test model in order to investigate the impact of carnosine on the migration and invasion of human colon cancer cells. The results showed that 48-hour treatments of HCT-116 cells with 0.5, 1, or 5 mM carnosine each significantly inhibited the migration ability of the cells (P < 0.05). The 48-hour treatments with 0.5, 1, or 5 mM carnosine were also found to significantly reduce MMP-9 activity (P < 0.05), but not MMP-2 expression. Furthermore, when HCT-116 cells treated with 1 or 5 mM carnosine, invasion ability are significantly decreased and significantly increased E-cadherin expression (P < 0.05). On the other hand, the protein of TIMP-1, an inhibitor of MMP-9, is signification increased after 1 or 5 mM carnosine treatment (P<0.05). In addition, the u-PA protein level are significantly decreased after carnosine treatment. The results indicate that carnosine can regulate the migration and invasion by regulating MMPs and its regulator molecular expression in HCT-116 cells.