Dihydroartemisinin inhibits TCTP-dependent metastasis in gallbladder cancer

BACKGROUND: Patients with metastatic or relapsed gallbladder cancer generally have a poor prognosis. Therefore, targeting metastasis is one arm of therapeutic strategies to treat gallbladder cancer. METHODS: Levels of translationally controlled tumor protein (TCTP) were measured in samples of gallbladder cancer by immunohistochemical staining. Wound healing, migration and invasion assays were used to investigate the motility of cells. Western blot assay was used to investigate the levels of TCTP and other proteins. Liver metastasis models and lung metastasis models were established to investigate the inhibitory effect of Dihydroartemisinin on gallbladder cancer metastasis. RESULTS: TCTP is aberrantly expressed in gallbladder cancer patients and associated with metastasis and a poor prognosis. Depleting TCTP significantly inhibited gallbladder cancer cell migration and invasion. We found that Dihydroartemisinin as a potent inhibitor of TCTP inhibited TCTP-dependent cell migration and invasion by reducing cell division control protein 42 homolog (Cdc42) activation. In addition, in mice with xenografted tumors, treatment with Dihydroartemisinin decreased gallbladder cancer cell metastases and improved survival. CONCLUSIONS: These findings provide new insights into the therapeutic activity of Dihydroartemisinin as a treatment for gallbladder cancer metastasis. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13046-017-0531-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.