Acetylsalicylic acid regulates MMP-2 activity and inhibits colorectal invasion of murine B16F0 melanoma cells in C57BL/6J mice: Effects of prostaglandin F2α

Epidemiological studies indicate that acetylsalicylic acid may reduce the risk of mortality due to colon cancers. Metastasis is the major cause of cancer death. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) play important roles in tumor invasion regulation, and prostaglandin F2α (PGF2α) is a key stimulator of MMP production. Thus, we investigated whether acetylsalicylic acid regulated MMP activity and the invasion of cancer cells and whether PGF2α attenuated acetylsalicylic acid-inhibited invasion of cancer cells. Gelatin-based zymography assays showed that acetylsalicylic acid inhibited the MMP-2 activity of B16F0 melanoma cells. Matrigel-based chemoinvasion assays showed that acetylsalicylic acid inhibited the invasion of B16F0 cells. Acetylsalicylic acid can inhibit PGF2α synthesis and PGF2α is a key stimulator of MMP-2 production. Our data showed that PGF2α treatment attenuated the acetylsalicylic acid-inhibited invasion of B16F0 cells. In animal experiments, acetylsalicylic acid reduced colorectal metastasis of B16F0 cells in C57BL/6J mice by 44%. Our results suggest that PGF2α is a therapeutic target for metastasis inhibition and acetylsalicylic acid may possess anti-metastasis ability.