Homocysteine inhibits the proliferation and invasive potential of HT-1080 human fibrosarcoma cells

The impairment of homocysteine metabolism has been related to several disorders and diseases. Recently, homocysteine has been shown to inhibit key steps of angiogenesis, including endothelial cell proliferation, invasion, and remodeling of the extracellular matrix. Since these are also key steps in tumor invasion and metastasis, it can be hypothesized that homocysteine can also interfere in these processes. Therefore, we studied the effects of homocysteine on tumor proliferation and invasion, as well as on urokinase, a key extracellular matrix-degrading protease, using a model human tumor cell line. This study demonstrates that, in fact, homocysteine inhibits HT-1080 proliferation and invasion, and is a potent inhibitor of tumor cell urokinase expression. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.