Rho kinase inhibitor fasudil suppresses migration and invasion though down-regulating the expression of VEGF in lung cancer cell line A549

Rho and Rho-associated kinase play an important role in focal adhesion, stress fiber formation and cell motility. Fasudil is a kind of Rho kinase inhibitor. The effect and precise molecular mechanism of fasudil on the biology behavior of lung cancer cell A549 remains unclear. The cytotoxic effect of fasudil on A549 cell was measured by 3-(4, 5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Wound-healing assay was used to evaluate the effect of fasudil on migration activity of A549 cells. The invasion activity of A549 cells was detected by transwell chamber assay. The expression of MMPs was measured by gelatin zymography. RT-PCR and western blot were used to investigate the molecular change of A549 cells after treated with fasudil. Fasudil-inhibited proliferation of A549 cells in a concentration-dependent manner, decreased the migration and invasion activity. After treated with fasudil, the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 was significantly inhibited compared with the control group. Furthermore, the expression of RhoA and VEGF of A549 cell treated with fasudil was significantly down-regulated. Our findings indicate that fasudil might have a therapeutic potential for lung cancer though inhibiting cell proliferation, migration, invasion, MMPs activity and down-regulating the expression of RhoA and VEGF.