Anti-metastasis effect of thymoquinone on human pancreatic cancer

Recent studies reported that thymoquinone (TQ), a component derived from the medicinal spice Nigella sativa (also called black cumin), exhibited inhibitory effects on cell proliferation of many cancer cell lines.  This study was performed to investigate the anti-metastatic effect of thymoquinone on the pancreatic cancer in vitro and in vivo.  The results showed that thymoquinone suppressed the migration and invasion of Panc-1 cells in a does-dependent manner.  To investigate the possible mechanisms involved in these events, Western blotting analysis was performed, and found that thymoquinone significantly down-regulates NF-κB and MMP-9 in Panc-1 cells.  In addition, metastatic model simulating human pancreatic cancer was established by orthotropic implantation of histologically intact pancreatic tumor tissue into the pancreatic wall of nude mice.  And administration of thymoquinone significantly reduced tumor metastasis compared to untreated control.  Furthermore, the expression of NF-κB and MMP-9 in tumor tissues was also suppressed after treatment with thymoquinone.  Taken together, the results indicate that thymoquinone exerts anti-metastatic activity on pancreatic cancer both in vitro and in vivo, which may be related to down-regulation of NF-κB and its regulated molecules such as MMP-9 protein.  Consequently, these results provide important insights into thymoquinone as an anti- metastatic agent for the treatment of human pancreatic cancer.