Natural
polyphenols are plant metabolites exhibiting a broad range of
biological activities. Among them, anticancer properties seem to be very desirable. This study examined the anticancer and anti-metastatic properties of the
polyphenol-rich extract from the evening primrose seeds (EPE). In vitro and in vivo studies performed in
colorectal cancer (CRC) cell lines and AOM-DSS-induced
colitis-associated colon cancer in mice revealed the EPE anticancer properties. Furthermore, we studied the EPE activity on metastatic abilities and showed that the EPE inhibited invasiveness in the following models (cells isolated from patients with different invasive stages and cells with induced invasion by either Snail overexpression or CAF stimulation). More importantly, we also demonstrated that the EPE decreases the cell invasiveness of
5-fluorouracil (5-FU) resistant CRC cells. The inhibition of
metastasis correlated with a decrease in
thymidylate synthetase (TYMS), which has recently been associated with metastatic phenotype development. Our results indicate that the EPE might be an effective
anticancer agent in suppressing
colon cancer metastasis regardless of the invasiveness cause. Based on these findings, we concluded that the used EPE extract rich in
polyphenols inhibits cell invasion by TYMS downregulation.