Berberine reversed the epithelial-mesenchymal transition of normal colonic epithelial cells induced by SW480 cells through regulating the important components in the TGF-β pathway.

Stroma-tumor interactions within microenvironment play a crucial role in tumor development and growth. Cellular transdifferentiation in the stroma is a prerequisite for tumor formation. Targeting the interactions maybe a promising anticancer strategy. Berberine (BBR) has been confirmed to have anticancer and anti-inflammatory effects. We found for the first time that colon cancer cells SW480 induced spindle-like morphological changes and downregulation of E-cadherin and upregulation of vimentin and alpha-smooth muscle actin in colon epithelial cells HCoEpiCs by using transwell coculture system and conditioned medium from SW480. The conditioned medium also promoted the migration of HCoEpiCs. This transition was inhibited by a transforming growth factor-β receptor inhibitor LY364947. BBR (50 and 100 µg/ml) reversed the EMT-like transition and repressed the migration in HCoEpiCs. Further results demonstrated that downregulation of TβRII, Smad2, p-Smad3, and overexpression of Smad3 participated in the SW480-induced phenotypic transition of HCoEpiCs. In addition, BBR upregulated the expressions of TβRII, Smad2, and p-Smad3. In conclusion, our findings suggest that BBR exerts the anti-EMT and antimigration effect by mediating the expression of TβRII, Smad2, and p-Smad3.