Resveratrol analogue 4,4′-dihydroxy-trans-stilbene potently inhibits cancer invasion and metastasis

We investigated the preventive effects of resveratrol analogue 4,4'-dihydroxy-trans-stilbene (DHS) on cancer invasion and metastasis. Two different in vivo approaches of mouse and zebrafish lung cancer invasion models were employed in our study. The in vitro results showed that DHS displays potent inhibition on anchorage-dependent or -independent cell growth of LLC cells, leading to impairment of the cell cycle progression with reduction of cell numbers arresting at the G1 phase, an evident accumulation of pre-G1 events correlated with apoptotic behaviour. In addition, DHS induces a marked inhibition of LLC cell migration and matrigel invasion. In a murine lung cancer model, tumour volume, cell proliferation, and tumour angiogenesis were significantly inhibited by DHS. Importantly, liver metastatic lesions were significantly reduced in DHS-treated mice. Similarly, DHS significantly inhibits lung cancer cell dissemination, invasion and metastasis in a zebrafish tumour model. These findings demonstrate that DHS could potentially be developed as a novel therapeutic agent for treatment of cancer and metastasis.