Gastric-cancer-derived mesenchymal stem cells: a promising target for resveratrol in the suppression of gastric cancer metastasis

The tumor microenvironment (TM) is an essential factor of tumor progression. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are important components of the TM and play critical roles in cancer metastasis. Resveratrol (RES) is a potential antitumor drug that has attracted extensive attention. However, it remains unclear whether RES can exert its antitumor activity by targeting MSCs located in the TM. In this study, we demonstrated that the conditioned medium of gastric-cancer-derived MSCs (GC–MSCs) promoted gastric cancer (GC) metastasis and facilitated the progression of epithelialmesenchymal transition (EMT) of GC cells. However, after pretreatment with RES, the prometastatic effect of GC–MSCs on GC cells was reversed. Furthermore, RES reduced GC–MSC (IL-6, IL-8, MCP-1, VEGF) gene expression and protein secretion, and counteracted the activation of the GC–MSC-induced Wnt/β-catenin signaling of GC cells, with less β-catenin nuclear transport and declined expression of β-catenin, CD44, and CyclinD3 in GC cells. Re-expression of β-catenin impaired the inhibitory effect of RES on GC cells. In conclusion, RES restricted the mobility increase of GC cells and reversed the progress of EMT induced by GC–MSCs by inactivating the Wnt/β-catenin signaling. GC–MSCs are promising target for RES in the inhibition of GC metastasis.