Formononetin exhibits anticancer activity in gastric carcinoma cell and regulating miR-542-5p.

Formononetin exhibits anti-neoplastic activities in specific types of cancers, such as colon carcinoma and breast cancer. Nevertheless, its role in suppressing gastric carcinoma (GC) growth and metastatic-associated phenotypes has not been fully understood. Here, we demonstrated that formononetin decreased the viability of GC cell line SGC-7901 and MGC-803. Furthermore, formononetin suppressed the migration and invasion abilities of GC cells. Consistent with the results in vitro, the anticancer effect of formononetin was verified using xenograft model. The expression of microRNA-542-5p (miR-542-5p), acted as an oncogene in many cancers, was identified to be upregulated in GC. Importantly, miR-542-5p might involve in formononetin exhibits anticancer activity in GC cells. Taken together, these results indicate that formononetin inhibits the growth and aggressiveness of GC cells in vitro and in vivo.