Epirubicin suppresses proliferative and metastatic potential by downregulating transforming growth factor-β-induced expression in urothelial carcinoma.

Transforming growth factor-β-induced (TGFΒI) is considered to be a vital gene in several carcinomas. In this study we determined the effect of TGFBI on the proliferative and metastatic potential of human urothelial carcinoma (UC) cells as well as its mRNA and protein expression, which were detected by RT-PCR and western blot, respectively. UC cell proliferation was analyzed by WST-1 assay and Hoechst 33258 staining. The effect of TGFBI on UC cell metastasis was analyzed using adhesion, migration and invasion assays. We found that TGFBI increased the proliferation of UC cells. Moreover, TGFBI enhanced the adhesion, migration and invasion of UC cells by upregulating MMP-2, MMP-9 and calpain-2 expression. We evaluated the effect of Epirubicin (EPI) on the regulation of TGFBI expression and found that TGFBI acts as a downstream target of EPI and is suppressed by EPI in UC cells. EPI is more effective in inhibiting the proliferation and metastasis of UC cells with high TGFBI expression. This study demonstrates that TGFBI might lead to tumorigenesis and progression of UC and those cells with high TGFBI expression may be vulnerable to relapse. EPI could prove to be a therapeutic option in patients with high TGFBI expressing UC cells.