Breast cancer causes death due to distant metastases in which tumor cells produce matrix metalloproteinase(MMP) enzymes which facilitate invasion. Oleuropein, the main olive oil polyphenol, has anti-proliferative effects.This study aimed to investigate the effect of oleuropein on the metastatic and anti-metastatic gene expression inthe MDA human breast cancer cell line. We evaluated the MMPs and TIMPs gene expression by semi-quantitativereverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) in treated and untreated cells. This study demonstratedthat OL may induce anti-metastatic effects on human breast cancer cells. We found that TIMP1,-3, and -4 wereover-expressed after all periods of incubation in treated cancer cells compared to untreated cells, while MMP2and MMP9 genes were down-regulated, at least initially. Treatment of breast cancer cells with oleuropein couldhelp in prevention of cancer metastasis by increasing the TIMPs and suppressing the MMPs gene expressions.
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