Background/Aim: Etomidate, an intravenous anesthetic, has been shown to have anticancer effects, including induction of cell-cycle arrest and apoptosis. However, to our knowledge, there are no reports about the anti-metastasis effects of etomidate on A549 human lung adenocarcinoma cells. Materials and Methods: The cell viability, cell adhesion, gelatin zymography assay, transwell migration and invasion assay, and western blotting analysis were used to investigate the effects of etomidate on A549 cells. Results: In our study, etomidate showed low cytotoxicity, inhibited cell adhesion, and suppressed the migration and invasion in A549 cells. The activity of matrix metallopeptidase 2 (MMP2) was reduced by 48 h treatment of etomidate. Results of western blotting analysis indicated that etomidate downregulated the expression of protein kinase C, MMP7, MMP1, MMP9, and p-p-38, but up-regulated that of RAS, phosphoinositide 3-kinase, and phosphor-extracellular-signal related kinase after 24 and 48 h treatment, in A549 cells. Conclusion: Etomidate suppressed the migration and invasion of lung adenocarcinoma A549 cells via inhibiting the expression of MMP1, MMP2, MMP7 and MMP9, and provides potential therapeutic targets for lung cancer treatment.Cancer has been the leading cause of death in Taiwan for 31 years (1). According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, it accounted for 1.8 million deaths (around 18.4% of all deaths) in 2018 worldwide (2). Since 90% of patients with cancer die due to metastases (3), inhibition of metastasis is a major concern in the care of such patients. Although surgery is a major approach for cancer removal, intraoperative manipulation of cancer tissues may release cancer cells into the vascular and lymphatic circulation or to neighboring tissues (4, 5). In those with a normal immune status, macrophage, dendritic cells, natural killer cells and T-cells have the ability to identify and to destroy cancer cells in the circulation. However, compromised immunity blocks these abilities and may lead to recurrence or progression of malignant diseases (6-9). Stressful perioperative events such as pain, surgery, transfusion, hypothermia, hypotension, electrolyte imbalance, and shock, inhalation anesthetics, and morphine depress immunological function can increase the incidence of cancer cell metastasis and cancer recurrence rate in patients treated for cancer with surgery (10, 11).
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