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Updated: Dec 11, 2025

A Novel In Vitro Wound Healing Assay to Evaluate Cell Migration
Published on: March 17, 2018
Beta adrenergic receptor activation inhibits oral cancer migration and invasiveness
Diego Mauricio Bravo-Calderón1, Agnes Assao1, Natália Galvão Garcia1
1Department of Surgery, Stomatology, Pathology and Radiology, Area of Pathology, Bauru School of Dentistry, University of São Paulo, Brazil.
Objective:
The aim of this study was to verify β2-AR expression in oral squamous cell carcinoma cell lines (SCC-9 and SCC-25), and to investigate the role of this receptor in migration and invasion of these neoplastic cells.
Design:
SCC-9 and SCC-25 cells were investigated for gene and protein expression of β2-AR. Cell migration and invasion were analyzed by wound healing assay and transwell invasion camera system. Different concentrations (0.1, 1 and 10 μM) of norepinephrine were used to stimulate, and 1 μM propranolol was used to block the beta-adrenergic receptors on cancer cells. Differences in median values of SCC-9 and SCC-25 and β2-AR protein expression were analyzed by Friedman test and in case of significant differences; pairwise comparisons were performed using Bonferroni correction.
Results:
The results showed that the β2-AR gene and protein expression were observed in both oral cancer cell lines. The concentration of 10 μM of norepinephrine significantly inhibited (p ≤ 0.05) migration of SCC-9 and SCC-25 cell lines. Furthermore, there was a significant reduction (p ≤ 0.05) in the effect of norepinephrine on cell migration when the β2-AR was inhibited by propranolol. The blockade by propranolol showed a tendency to reverse the effect of norepinephrine on the invasiveness of SCC-9 and SCC-25.
Conclusions:
The use of beta-adrenergic receptor agonists could become an adjuvant therapeutic target in the treatment of this malignancy.
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