Tauroursodeoxycholic acid reduces the invasion of MDA-MB-231 cells by modulating matrix metalloproteinases 7 and 13.

Tauroursodeoxycholic acid (TUDCA) is a conjugated form of UDCA that modulates several signaling pathways and acts as a chemical chaperone to relieve endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. The present study showed that TUDCA reduced the invasion of the MDA-MB-231 metastatic breast cancer cell line under normoxic and hypoxic conditions using an in vitro invasion assay. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction assay revealed that the reduced invasion following TUDCA treatment was associated with a decreased expression of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-7 and -13, which play important roles in invasion and metastasis. Inhibitors and short hairpin RNAs were used to show that the effect of TUDCA in the reduction of invasion appeared to be dependent on the protein kinase RNA-like ER kinase pathway, a downstream ER stress signaling pathway. Thus, TUDCA is a candidate anti-metastatic agent to target the ER stress pathway.