We have previously reported that a disintegrin inhibits solid turner growth and metastasis in mouse model [I.C. Kang, Y.D. Lee, D.S. Kim, A novel disintegrin salmosin inhibits tumor angiogenesis, Cancer Res.59 (1999) 3754-3760; S.I. Kim, K.S. Kim, H.S. Kim, D.S. Kim, Y. Jang, K.H. Chung, Y.S. Park, Inhibitory effect of the salmosin gene transferred by cationic liposomes on the progression of B16BL6 turners, Cancer Res. 63 (2003) 6458-462]. In this study, we have investigated the modulatory effect of a disintegrin, saxatilin, on the balance between MMP-9 and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1) in human ovarian cancer cell line MDAH 2774. Functional mechanism of the disintegrin-mediated transcriptional regulation of MMP-9 and TIMP-1 was examined in the ovarian cancer cell line. Saxatilin strongly induced TIMP-1 expression in dose-and time-dependent manners, while the disintegrin suppressed MMP-9 expression. Further analyses clearly indicated that interaction of the disintegrin and integrin alpha v beta 3 results in the TIMP-1 promoter activation via c-fos to suppress TNF-alpha-induced cancer cell invasion. These results demonstrate that integrin alpha v beta 3-mediated transcriptional regulation of MMP-9 and TIMP-1 is critical for suppressing the ovarian cancer cell invasion, (C) 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.