Abstract: Objective To explore the effect and mechanism of pinocembrin on the proliferation, migration and invasion of gastric cancer cell line AGS. Methods AGS cells were divided into different test groups according to concentrations of pinocembrin(50, 100, 200, 400 μmol/L), NC group, 200 μmol/L pinocembrin + anti-miR-NC group, 200 μmol/L pinocembrin + anti-miR-34a-5p group. The proliferation, apoptosis, migration, invasion ability and protein expression of AGS cells were detected by CCK-8 assay, flow cytometry, Transwell chamber assay and Western blot. The expression of miR-34a-5p was detected by real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). Results Different concentrations of pinocembrin reduced the proliferation activity of AGS cells (P＜0.05) and the proportion of in G₀/G₁ phase cells was increased while the proportion of S phase cells decreased. The expressions of MMP2, MMP9, p-PI3K and p-AKT protein decreased. The cell migration and invasion were inhibited. The expression of miR-34a-5p was increased (P＜0.05), which reduced the inhibitory effect of pinocembrin on the prolifera- tion, migration and invasion of AGS cells. Conclusions Pinocembrin can inhibit the proliferation, migration and invasion of AGS cells by improving the expression of miR-34a-5p.

Key words: pinocembrin, miR-34a-5p, proliferation, migration, invasion