Inhibitory effect of Lovastatin on spontaneous metastases derived from a rat lymphoma

The HMGCoA reductase inhibitor Lovastatin (LOV) has previously shown to abr ogate p21ras farnesylation, which is associated with invasive and metastati c abilities in many tumor models. Considering the scarcity of therapeutic r esources against metastasis, our objective was to study LOV as an antimetas tatic agent on L-TACB rat lymphoma, which as a syngeneic tumor model resemb les more closely the situation in human cancer. We also aimed to analyze th e effect of LOV on chemoinvasion, motility, metalloproteases secretion, ang iogenic capacity, and adhesion to the reconstituted basement membrane Matri gel(R). Our results showed that LOV caused no effect on cell motility, meta lloprotease secretion and neovascularization. Conversely, LOV produced a si gnificant inhibition of invasiveness, which could be a consequence of an im paired cell adhesion to the basement membrane observed. These effects could explain, at least in part, the inhibitory action of LOV on L-TACB rat lymp homa metastases.