Melanoma is one of the most malignant and aggressive types of cancer worldwide. Fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) is one of the critical regulators of melanoma angiogenesis and metastasis; thus, it might be an effective anti-cancer strategy to explore FGF2-targeting drug candidates from existing drugs. In this study, we evaluate the effect of the marine drug propylene glycol alginate sodium sulfate (PSS) on FGF2-mediated angiogenesis and invasion. The data shows that FGF2 selectively bound to PSS with high affinity. PSS inhibited FGF2-mediated angiogenesis in a rat aortic ring model and suppressed FGF2-mediated invasion, but not the migration of murine melanoma B16-F10 cells. The further mechanism study indicates that PSS decreased the expression of activated matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2) and matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9), and also suppressed their activity. In addition, PSS was found to decrease the level of Vimentin in B16-F10 cells, which is known to participate in the epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Notably, PSS did not elicit any changes in cancer cell viability. Based on the results above, we conclude that PSS might be a potential drug to regulate the tumor microenvironment in order to facilitate the recovery of melanoma patients.
Keywords: FGF2; MMP-2; MMP-9; angiogenesis; invasion; propylene glycol alginate sodium sulfate.