Inhibitory effect of α-solanine on esophageal carcinoma in vitro.

α-solanine, a bioactive component and one of the major steroidal glycoalkaloids in potatoes, has been observed to inhibit growth and induce apoptosis in cancer cells. However, the antitumor efficacy of α-solanine on esophageal carcinoma has yet to be fully elucidated. In the present study, the antitumor efficacy of α-solanine against human esophageal carcinoma cells was investigated. It was determined that α-solanine inhibited the growth and proliferation of human esophageal EC9706 and Eca109 cancer cells in a dose-dependent manner, as well as the cell migration and invasion. In addition, the apoptotic rate was increased in the cancer cells treated with α-solanine in a dose-dependent manner, compared with that of the control group (P<0.05). The expression levels of tumor metastasis-related proteins, including matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9, were reduced in the cells treated with α-solanine, as compared with the control group. Conversely, significantly higher expression levels of E-cadherin were detected in the α-solanine-treated groups, as compared with the control group (P<0.05). Therefore, the current results provide a novel insight into the anti-tumor mechanism of α-solanine, and suggest that α-solanine is a potential agent for the prevention and treatment of esophageal carcinoma.