Inhibition of invasion and metastasis by DMBT, a novel trehalose derivative, through Akt/GSK-3β/β-catenin pathway in B16BL6 cells

Abstract Invasion, either directly or via metastasis formation, is the main cause of death in cancer patients. Development of efficient anti-invasive agents is an important research challenge. 6,6′-bis (2,3-dimethoxybenzoyl)-a, a- d -trehalose (DMBT), one of brartemicin analogs, was found to be the most potent anti-invasive agent, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Our current study was to explore the effects of DMBT on invasion and metastasis in B16BL6 cells. Antiproliferation assay and trypan blue exclusion assay showed that no obvious inhibitory or cytotoxic effect of DMBT was found in B16BL6 cells. Wound healing demonstrated that DMBT could inhibit cell migration compared with the normal group. Transwell experiments showed that DMBT could significantly inhibit invasion to the reconstituted basement membrane ( P