3,4 dihydroxyphenylethanol may inhibit metastasis in hepg2 cells by influencing the expression of mir-21 and genes associated with metastasis

Background: hepatocellular carcinoma (hcc) is one of the lethal malignancies with a poor prognosis due to metastatic complications. matrix metalloproteinases (mmps) and their inhibitors, tissue inhibitors of metalloproteinases (timps), have an important role in metastasis. microrna-21 (mir-21) is significantly overexpressed in nearly all types of human cancers, including hcc. targeting mir-21 pharmacologically could be a promising therapeutic approach for hcc. 3,4-dihydroxyphenylethanol (dhpe), a phenolic phytochemical compound found in olive, has potent antioxidant and anticancer properties. this study aimed to investigate the effect of dhpe on the expression of mir-21 with genes associated with metastasis (mmp-2, mmp-9, timp-1, and timp-2) and their correlation with mir-21 in hepg2 cells.methods: this experimental study had four groups, including a control, and three groups of treatment with different concentrations of dhpe (50, 100, and 150 µm) for 24 hours. the expression levels of genes were determined by rt-qpcr.results: the results showed that the treatment of cells with dhpe significantly reduced the expression of mir-21, mmp-2, mmp-9, and timp-1 but increased timp-2 compared to the control group; additionally, there was a negative correlation between mir-21 and timp-2 but a positive correlation between mir-21 with mmp-2, mmp-9, and timp-1.conclusion: the results showed that dhpe, likely by reducing the expression of mir-21, can increase timp-2 and reduce mmp-2, mmp-9, and timp-1 gene expression and may play a role in inhibiting cell migration in hepg2 cells.