More than ۹۰% of cancer mortality is due to metastasis of malignant cells, as local or distance migration of cells makes their eradication by surgery or conventional chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy very difficult. Regarding colorectal cancer, approximately ۲۰% of patients have metastases at diagnosis, most often to the liver, lung or peritoneum. Auraptene, ۷-geranyloxycoumarin, is a monoterpene coumarin with numerous pharmacological properties such as antibacterial, antigenotoxic and cancer preventive activities. The present study was designed to investigate effects of
auraptene on migration of human
colon cancer cells in vitro.After
auraptene was synthesized using ۷-hydroxycoumarin and transgeranyl bromide, its purification was done by column chromatography and ۱H- and ۱۳C-NMR experiments were used to confirm its structure. For wound healing migration assay, LoVo and HT-۲۹ cells were seeded in ۲۴ well plates and after ۲۴ h, a straight scratch was made by a sterile pipette tip to create a gap with constant width. After washing the cells with PBS, they were treated with ۲۰ and ۴۰ μM
auraptene and incubated at ۳۷˚C in the presence of ۵% CO۲ for several days. To note, untreated cells and cells treated with ۰.۴% DMSO, as
auraptene solvent, were considered as control. Finally, cells migrated to the gap were photographed and analyzed by Image J software. Obtained finding indicated that
auraptene inhibited the migration of both cell lines in a dose dependent manner. For LoVo cells, ۲۰ μM
auraptene reduced the number of migrated cells after ۴۸ h, while the optimum time point for ۴۰ μM
auraptene was ۲۴ h. In case of HT-۲۹ cells, which have lower migration ability, ۲۰ and ۴۰ μM
auraptene inhibited
cell migration upon ۱۴۴ h and ۷۲ h of incubation, respectively. Taken together, our results suggest
auraptene as a potential anti-migratory agent in
colon cancer cells, although its effect needs to be further investigated in vivo.