Silibinin upregulates Ecadherin expression in MKN45 human gastric cancer cells

Background and objectives:  Gastric cancer is currently known as one of the most important causes of cancerdriven death all over the world. In patients with gastric cancer, a significant proportion of death occurs due to metastasis. On the other hand, down modulated Ecadherin level has been reported as an important contributor to tumor cell invasion and metastasis. In this regard, the present work was aimed to evaluate the impact of silibinin, a flavonolignan with established antitumor efficacy, on cell viability and Ecadherin expression in the gastric cancer cell line MKN45. Methods: To determine cell viability, MTT assay was performed 48 h after silibinin treatment (at concentrations of 100, 200 and 400 μM). In addition, quantitative realtime PCR was done following total RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis, to assess Ecadherin level in cells treated with silibinin. Results: The MTT results showed concentrationdependent reducing effect of silibinin on viability of MKN45 cells. The findings of quantitative realtime PCR analysis demonstrated upregulated Ecadherin expression in cells treated with silibinin (significantly (p≤ 0.05) at concentration of 200 μM) compared to the control cells. Conclusions: The current study suggested that silibinin may exert antimigratory/invasive effects on gastric cancer cells by enhancing Ecadherin expression, which needs to be further investigated.