Figure 3.

Quercetin is shown to induce regulation of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP). (A) Western blotting was conducted to examine the changes in the EMT inducers. The results showed that the epithelial markers (E-cadherin and claudin-1) were upregulated, and the mesenchymal markers (fibronectin, vimentin, and alpha-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA)) were downregulated upon treatment with quercetin. (B) Quantitation of A. The band intensities of each target protein were measured using an image analyzer and presented as relative ratio. (C) Gelatin zymography shows the MMP-2 and MMP-9 activities in oral cancer cell lines (OSC20, SAS, and HN22 cells) upon quercetin treatment. Data are the means ± SEM. * p < 0.05, and ** p < 0.01 vs. the corresponding control (quercetin 0 μM).