Objective: To explore the effect and mechanism of ligand pioglitazone (PGZ) activating PPAR-gamma on the invasiveness of cholangiocarcinoma cell in vitro.
Methods: Human hilar cholangiocarcinoma cell line QBC939 was selected and cultured in vitro for this research. The rate of QBC939 cell growth inhibition was detected by MTT, and the influence of PGZ on the expression of MMP-7 mRNA and TIMP-1 mRNA was measured by using FQ-PCR. The in vitro invasiveness and mobility of QBC939 were quantified by Matrigel invasion assay and crossing-river test.
Results: Among the low concentration (5 micromol/L-40 micromol/L) groups at the point of 12-hours, PGZ did not show to inhibit significantly the growth of QBC939 cells (P>0. 05). However, the PGZ could down-regulate the expression of MMP-7 mRNA in QBC939 cells (P<0. 01), and up-regulate the TIMP-1 mRNA expression to be without obvious statistics significance (P>0. 05). At last, PGZ could reduce the number of QBC939 cell breaking through the matrigel and prolonging the time of crossing-river significantly (P< 0. 01) in a dose-dependent manner.
Conclusion: For ligand PGZ to activate PPAR-gamma can inhibit the invasiveness of QBC939 cells in vitro via regulating the expression of MMP-7 and the mobility of QBC939 cells probably.