Effect of Metalloprotease Arazyme on the Expression of MMP2 and MMP9 Genes in Metastasis of Colon and Ovarian Cancer Cell Lines

Background: After cardiovascular diseases, cancer is the main cause of death in the United States, and its prevalence is continually increasing. Ovarian cancer is a fetal and common cancer among women and is the eighth common cancer in Iran. Colorectal cancer is known as the second and fourth common cancer in Iranian women and men, respectively. Arazyme is a metalloprotease with strong antitumor effects on tumor cells. Objectives: This study aimed at studying the effect of metalloprotease arazyme in vitro on the expression of MMP2 and MMP9 genes, causing metastasis in ovarian and colon cancer. Methods: Bacterial strains and cell lines, the construction of an expression vector, and preparation of recombinant protein were done. Then, they were evaluated by Western blot, cell culture, cell viability assay, and reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction. Results: The effects of arazyme on ovarian and colon cell lines were assessed by the MTT assay showing that the viability of cancer cells treated with arazyme decreased significantly in comparison with control cells. Also, RT-PCR showed that the expression of MMP2 and MMP9 genes decreased after treatment with arazyme, which was significant when compared to the results of pre-treatment. Conclusions: In this study, the results showed that the use of arazyme protein as a bacterial anti-protease can play a significant role in reducing the expression of metastatic genes. According to numerous studies on the role of bacterial proteases in the process of metastasis in recent years, this method can be considered as a therapeutic approach in reducing the metastatic process.