The combined treatment of brassinin and imatinib synergistically downregulated the expression of MMP-9 in SW480 colon cancer cells.

In cancer treatment, which is a major cause of mortality today, combination studies with clinically used chemotherapeutics are becoming increasingly important as much as investigating the effects of novel natural compounds. In this context, phytoalexins constitute an important group due to their unique structure. Brassinin is an essential indole phytoalexin and is a biosynthetic precursor for other phytoalexins. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the anticancer effects of brassinin in combination with imatinib in SW480 cells. In the study, it was observed that brassinin-imatinib combination significantly increased cytotoxicity compared with the single treatment of both compounds and inhibited cell cycle at G0/G1 phase. Annexin V binding and fluorescence imaging assays showed that the combination of brasinin-imatinib induces apoptosis in a dose-dependent manner. Furthermore, the effect of brassinin on the activity of MMP-9 in SW480 cells was evaluated for the first time, and it was detected that MMP-9 activity was significantly reduced. The combination of brassinin-imatinib was found to inhibit MMP-9 activity as well as relative MMP-9 gene expression on a higher level compared with control and compounds alone. Our findings have revealed that the combination of brassinin-imatinib synergistically induces cytotoxicity and apoptosis in SW480 cells. The findings on MMP-9 downregulation have also revealed the anti-metastatic potential of treatment.