engleski

The effect of Nm23-H1 expression level on migration and adhesion of Cal27 cells

Nm23-H1 is the first described metastasis suppressor protein and it can inhibit formation of metastasis without affecting primary tumor growth. Decreased expression of Nm23-H1 is often observed in invasive tumors such as breast and ovary cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, colon cancer and melanoma but not in neuroblastoma, osteosarcoma and blood cell malignancies. Furthermore, Nm23-H1 can reduce metastatic potential of cancer cells both in vivo and in vitro. Although being extensively studied the mechanism of metastasis suppression is still largely unknown. During metastasis the cancer cell acquires ability to migrate and invade surrounding tissue which includes changes in adhesion properties of cells. In this study we evaluated the migratory and adhesion properties of Cal 27 cells (squamous cell carcinoma of tongue) in relation to the level of Nm23-H1 expression. While moderate Nm23-H1 upregulation decreases migration, very high levels increase migration of Cal 27 cells. Cells expressing high levels of Nm23-H1 also displayed decreased adhesion on vitronectin. Moderate downregulation of Nm23-H1 increased ability of migration of Cal 27 and adhesion on laminin which is in agreement with previously reported Nm23-H1 mediated inhibition of motility and adhesion in other cancer cell lines. However, our results indicate that at least in some cancer cell types high expression of Nm23-H1 can in fact increase migration and at this point we can speculate that Nm23-H1 might have dual role in regulation of cancer cell migration depending on exact quantity of protein and cell context. That hypothesis is currently under further investigation in our laboratory.

Nm23 ; metastasis suppressor ; migration ; adhesion ; Cal27

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