**The Inhibitory E** ff**ect of Propylene Glycol Alginate Sodium Sulfate on Fibroblast Growth Factor 2-Mediated Angiogenesis and Invasion in Murine Melanoma B16-F10 Cells In Vitro**

**He Ma 1, Peiju Qiu 1,2,3,4,\*, Huixin Xu 1, Ximing Xu 1,2,3,4, Meng Xin 1,2,3,4, Yanyan Chu 1,2,3,4, Huashi Guan 1,2,3,4, Chunxia Li 1,3 and Jinbo Yang 1,2,3,4,\***


Received: 5 March 2019; Accepted: 23 April 2019; Published: 29 April 2019

**Abstract:** Melanoma is one of the most malignant and aggressive types of cancer worldwide. Fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) is one of the critical regulators of melanoma angiogenesis and metastasis; thus, it might be an e ffective anti-cancer strategy to explore FGF2-targeting drug candidates from existing drugs. In this study, we evaluate the e ffect of the marine drug propylene glycol alginate sodium sulfate (PSS) on FGF2-mediated angiogenesis and invasion. The data shows that FGF2 selectively bound to PSS with high a ffinity. PSS inhibited FGF2-mediated angiogenesis in a rat aortic ring model and suppressed FGF2-mediated invasion, but not the migration of murine melanoma B16-F10 cells. The further mechanism study indicates that PSS decreased the expression of activated matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2) and matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9), and also suppressed their activity. In addition, PSS was found to decrease the level of Vimentin in B16-F10 cells, which is known to participate in the epithelial–mesenchymal transition. Notably, PSS did not elicit any changes in cancer cell viability. Based on the results above, we conclude that PSS might be a potential drug to regulate the tumor microenvironment in order to facilitate the recovery of melanoma patients.

**Keywords:** propylene glycol alginate sodium sulfate; angiogenesis; invasion; FGF2; MMP-2; MMP-9
