Investigation of juglone effects on metastasis and angiogenesis in pancreatic cancer cells

Juglone, a natural component, is shown to have cytotoxic and apoptotic effects in several cancer cell lines. However, little is known about its effects on invasion and metastasis. In this study, we aimed to determine the antimetastatic effect of juglone in the BxPC-3 and PANC-1 pancreatic cancer cell lines. Cytotoxic effect of juglone was evaluated by using MTT (3-(4,5-Dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-Diphenyltetrazolium Bromide) test. The cells were treated with juglone at < IC50 doses (5, 10, 15 and 20 μM ) for 24 h. After the cell adhesion and invasion analysis, expression profiles of the MMP-2, MMP-9 and Phactr-1 genes were determined by qPCR. The IC50 dose of juglone was found to be 21.05 μM in the BxPC-3 cell line and 21.25 μM in the PANC-1 cell line for 24 h. According to the cell adhesion and invasion analysis, treatment of juglone for 24 h reduced the adhesion and invasion features of pancreatic cancer cells. A significant reduction of MMP-2, MMP-9 and Phactr-1 expressions was observed in pancreatic cancer cells after the treatment of juglone at < IC50 doses. By this study, it has been shown for the first time that juglone inhibits cell invasion and metastasis in pancreatic cancer line and can be evaluated as an effective anticancer agent in pancreatic cancer.