Ellagic acid inhibits cell proliferation, migration, and invasion in melanoma via EGFR pathway

Ellagic acid (EA), a polyphenolic compound from pomegranate fruit extracts, has been reported to possess anti-proliferation, pro-apoptosis, and anti-invasion effects on many cancers. However, its effect on melanoma is yet to be clarified. In the present study, we investigated the anti-cancer effects of EA on melanoma cells in vitro and in vivo. The results indicated that 40 µM of EA significantly inhibited the proliferation, migration, and invasion of WM115 and A375 cells. The EA treatment significantly decreased the expression of p-EGFR and Vimentin, but increased the expression of E-cadherin in both cell lines. We further found that EGFR activation significantly abolished the effect of EA on WM115 and A375 cells. Moreover, EA treatment impaired in vivo tumorigenesis of A375 cells. Moreover, elevated pEGFR expression was an independent detrimental factor for melanoma patients. Taken together, our study provided evidence that EA treatment inhibits the migration, invasion and proliferation of melanoma cells via EGFR signaling pathway. These findings strongly suggested that EA might be useful for the development of new therapeutic strategies at melanoma.