Allyl Isothiocyanate Influences Cell Adhesion, Migration and Metalloproteinase Gene Expression in SK-Hep1 Cells

Allyl isothiocyanate (AITC) has been reported to exhibit antimetastatic activity, but the mechanism remains unclear. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of AITC on cell adhesion, migration, and metalloproteinase gene expression in SK-Hep1 human hepatoma cells. The gene expression profiles of SK-Hep1 cells were obtained by using the HG-U133A Affymetrix GeneChip human genome array containing 14,500 human genes. Twenty antimetastatic genes including COL4A3, ADAMDEC1, CAPN10, CD14, and ITGB1BP3 were over expressed, while the expression of 35 genes such as COL8A1, MYBPC1, ST14, and SOS2 were down-regulated. Semiquantitative RT-PCR confirmed these results in mRNA levels. Based on these in vitro results, it can be concluded that AITC might be potentially useful in suppressing tumor cell migration and MMP expression. Exp Biol Med 234:105-111, 2009