Gigantol Attenuates the Metastasis of Human Bladder Cancer Cells, Possibly Through Wnt/EMT Signaling

Bladder cancer has long been recognized as one of the most common and aggressive human malignant carcinomas due to the increased invasiveness and metastasis. The discovery and development of natural compounds from Dendrobium species for cancer therapy have garnered increasing attention in recent years. Among those natural elements, the bibenzyl compound gigantol has promising therapeutic potential against several cancer cell lines; however, its roles on bladder tumor metastasis have not been investigated.

Here in this in vitro study, we utilized viability tests, cell migration, cell invasion and apoptosis assays to evaluate the anti-tumor activity of gigantol on three human bladder cancer cell lines (SW780, 5637, and T24) and a normal human bladder cell line (SVHUC-1). Cells were treated with different concentrations of gigantol (0, 40, 80, and 160 µM) for 24, 48 and 72 h.

Here in this study, we showed that gigantol suppressed cancer cell proliferation but not normal SVHUC-1 cells. The inhibitory effect of the compound on cell migration and invasion was also exhibited in the cancer cell lines. Cell apoptosis assay by flow cytometry revealed enhanced apoptotic effects of gigantol on cancer cells. Gene expression analysis revealed that Wnt/EMT signaling might involve in the response of bladder cancer cells to gigantol.

Therefore, the present data demonstrate gigantol as a strong anticancer reagent against bladder cancer possibly through Wnt/EMT signaling.