Metastatic
lung cancer is a leading cause of mortality and has a mortality rate of ≥90%.
Isolinderalactone (ILL) is a
sesquiterpene lactone compound that has been used in
traditional Chinese medicine. Research has demonstrated that ILL has anti-inflammatory and anti-proliferative properties; however, to the best of our knowledge, studies investigating whether ILL can inhibit
lung cancer cell
metastasis have not been conducted. In the present study, 1-10 µM ILL was applied in the culturing of the A549
lung cancer cell line to investigate the effects of ILL on the invasion and migration of
lung cancer cells, including whether the possible mechanisms of ILL are associated with the expression of
matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and NME/NM23
nucleoside diphosphate kinase 1 (NM23-H1) genes. The results of the present study indicated that ILL inhibited the invasion and migration of the A549
cancer cells and exhibited a dose-response association. ILL also significantly inhibited the
protein expression and activity of MMP-2 (P<0.05), exhibiting a trend similar to that of its invasion- and migration-associated properties. Further research revealed that ILL significantly increased the expression of NM23-H1
protein and inhibited the expression of β-
catenin protein (P<0.05). The results of the present study is, to the best of our knowledge, the first to confirm that ILL can inhibit the invasion and migration of A549
cancer cells, with the possible mechanisms potentially involving the inhibition of MMP-2 and β-
catenin protein expression resulting from the up regulation of NM23-H1 expression.