Meloxicam upregulates E-cadherin and downregulates MMP-2 in a COX-2-dependent way.

<p>HepG2 cells were cultured for 72(80 μM), PGE2 (3 μM) or rh-MMP-2 (25 ng/mL), or the combination. Cell lysates were analyzed by Western blot analysis to detect expression of E-cadherin (A, B) and MMP-1/MMP-2 (C) proteins. The band density in each assay was measured and normalized to that of GAPDH, respectively. (D, E) The concentrations of soluble E-cadherin (sE-cad) in supernatants from the above cell culture were measured by ELISA. (F–H) The above cells were lysed and subjected to quantitative real-time RT-PCR for measuring the levels of E-Cadherin (F) and MMP-2 (G) mRNAs, and to a standard RT-PCR assay, in which PCR products of E-Cadherin (I) and MMP-2 (H) were electrophoresed. GAPDH served as an internal control. Data represent three independent experiments. “*” indicates a significant (<i>P</i>&lt;0.05) difference, and “**”, a highly significant (<i>P</i>&lt;0.001) difference.