Suppression of metastasis of human breast cancer cells by chitosan oligosaccharides.

The present study investigated the antimetastatic property of chitosan oligosaccharides (COS) by evaluating motility, invasion, and the amount and activity of MMP-9 in MDA-MB-231 human breast carcinoma cells. Treatment of MDA-MB-231 cells with increasing concentrations of COS led to a concentration-dependent decrease in cell migration. COS significantly inhibited the invasion of MDA-MB-231 cells through a Matrigel-coated membrane. The treatment of MDA-MB-231 cells with COS reduced the amounts of secreted MMP-9. The activity and amount of MMP-9 protein in MDA-MB-231 cells were decreased by treatment with COS and occurred in a concentration-dependent manner. Our data indicated that COS can serve as a potential novel therapeutic candidate for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer.