Lycorine, a natural alkaloid extracted from the Amaryllidaceae plant family, was reported to various physiological and pharmacological effects including anti-cancer activity. Nevertheless, there is no report of the anticancer effect of lycorine in oral cancer cells. The effects of lycorine on cell proliferation and apoptosis were examined through trypan blue exclusion assay, 4’-6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) stain, Live/Dead assay, Western blot analysis and RT-PCR. Lycorine suppressed cell viability and induced apoptosis in MC3 and HSC-3 cell lines. Lycorine decreased survivin protein but did not affect its mRNA. It regulated survivin through accelerating protein degradation in a time-dependent manner although neither proteasome nor lysosome was not associated with lycorine-mediated protein degradation. Collectively, our results suggest that lycorine may be a potential therapeutic anti-cancer drug candidate for the treatment of human oral cancer.

Alterations in cell surface receptors and adhesion molecules which regulate cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions have been 뻐plicated in tumor processes. In order to investigate the effect of integrin expression on the invasiveness of oral sqllamous cell carcinoma, integ띠1 expression in the celllines such as SCC-4, SCC-9, SCC-15, and SCC-25 was analyzed, and the comparison between cell adhesion assay towards extracellular matrix proteins and in vitro invasion assay following inhibition of the functional domain of the integrins using blocking antibodies against the specific integrins 낀 nd Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) peptide were carried out. The expression of integrin a 2, a 3, a 6 was detected in all oral squamous cell carcinoma celllines. In contrast, the expression of a vß6 integrin is detected in SCC-4 and SCC-9, not in SCC-1 5 and SCC-25. 까1e adhesion of SCC-4 cell line to collagen 1, laminin, and fibronectin was significantly reducecl by σeatment with a 3-, a 6-, and a vß6-blocking antibody, respectively (p (0.05). 꺼.1e invasion of SCC-4 cell line throllgh Matrigel was significantly reduced by treatment with v 6-blocking antibody and RGD pepticle (p(0.05). These results sllggested that specifìc integrins play an in1portant role in the process of adhesion and invasion of oral squamous cell carcinoma cells and the expression of a vß6 integrin is believed to the enhance its invasivene잃.