cancer cell migration

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is known as a highly prevalent cancer with a poor prognosis and short survival time, despite intensive research and clinical efforts. Increasing numbers of studies have reported that microRNAs are involved in the malignant behavior of hepatocellular carcinoma cells via directly targeting multiple oncogenes or tumor suppressors. Here, we report that the expression of microRNA-493 (miR-493) is decreased in HCC cell lines and in tumor tissues. Overexpression of miR-493 in HCC cells dramatically inhibited cell proliferation and colony-formation in vitro and inhibited tumor formation of HCC cell xenografts in vivo...

Endogenous retroviruses are cellular genes of retroviral origin captured by their host during the course of evolution and represent around 8% of the human genome. Although most are defective and transcriptionally silenced, some are still able to generate retroviral-like particles and proteins. Among these, the HERV-K(HML2) family is remarkable since its members have amplified relatively recently and many of them still have full length coding genes. Furthermore, they are induced in cancers, especially in melanoma, breast cancer and germ cell tumours, where viral particles, as well as the envelope protein (Env), can be detected...

Advanced osteosarcoma (OS) is usually treated by preoperative and postoperative chemotherapy, but there are a very limited number of active agents. Celecoxib (Cel) is a COX-2-selective nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug and its antitumoral effect has been shown widely in a variety of cancers including OS cells in vitro. However, the potential combinational effect of Cel with other biological therapy has not been reported in OS cells. In this study, the effects of Cel, miR-34a mimics, and their combination on cell proliferation (MTT assay), migration (in-vitro scratch assay), invasion (transwell assay), mRNA (real-time PCR), and protein (Western blot) expression of associated signal transductions were investigated in cultured MG63 cells...

Rho-associated kinase (ROCK) activity drives cell migration via actomyosin contractility. During invasion, individual cancer cells can transition between two modes of migration, mesenchymal and amoeboid. Changes in ROCK activity can cause a switch between these migration phenotypes which are defined by distinct morphologies. However, recent studies have shown that the ROCK isoforms are not functionally redundant as previously thought. Therefore, it is unclear whether the ROCK isoforms play different roles in regulating migration phenotypes...

Mitochondrial Ca(2+) signaling, which is strongly dependent on the mitochondrial Ca(2+) uniporter (MCU) complex, has a series of key roles in physiopathological processes, including energy metabolism, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and cell apoptosis. However, a mechanistic understanding of how the mitochondrial Ca(2+) signaling is remodeled and its functional roles remains greatly limited in cancers, especially in hepatocellular carcinoma. Here we demonstrated that the MCU complex was dysregulated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cells and significantly correlated with metastasis and poor prognosis of HCC patients...

Ovarian cancer is a nearly uniform lethal disease and its highly aggressive metastatic phenotype portends a poor prognosis. Lack of a well-controlled, relevant experimental model has been a major obstacle to identifying key molecules causing metastasis. Here we describe the creation of a new isogenic model of spontaneous human ovarian cancer metastasis exhibiting opposite phenotypes-highly metastatic (HM) and non-metastatic (NM)-both in vitro and in vivo. HM was unique in its ability to metastasize consistently to the peritoneum, mimicking the major dissemination route of human ovarian cancer...

Previous research to investigate the interaction between malaria infection and tumor progression has revealed that malaria infection can potentiate host immune response against tumor in tumor-bearing mice. Exosomes may play key roles in disseminating pathogenic host-derived molecules during infection because several studies have shown the involvement and roles of extracellular vesicles in cell-cell communication. However, the role of exosomes generated during Plasmodium infection in tumor growth, progression and angiogenesis has not been studied either in animals or in the clinics...

This paper aims to study Twist protein expression in colorectal carcinoma and its effect on the proliferation and invasion of colorectal cancer cells, and to explore its specific mechanism of promoting cancer. Tissues of 20 patients and specimens of 20 normal people were examined by colonoscopy biopsy; the Twist mRNA expression level was detected by real-time quantitative PCR; the RNA interference in colorectal carcinoma cell line CT-26 cells was performed by lipid transfection method; the effects of Twist interference on proliferation and invasion of colorectal cancer cells were observed by CCK8 assay and tran swell assay; the mRNA and protein levels of mRNA in CT-26 cells were detected by RT-PCR and Western blot...

Metastases claim more than 90% of cancer-related patient deaths and are usually seeded by a subset of circulating tumor cells shed off from the primary tumor. In circulation, circulating tumor cells are found both as single cells and as clusters of cells. The clusters of circulating tumor cells, although many fewer in number, possess much higher metastatic potential as compared to that of individual circulating tumor cells. In this review, we highlight recent insights into molecular mechanisms that can enable the formation of these clusters-(a) hybrid epithelial/mesenchymal phenotype of cells that couples their ability to migrate and adhere, and (b) intercellular communication that can spatially coordinate the cluster formation and provide survival signals to cancer cells...

The tumor microenvironment is composed of heterogeneous populations of cells, including cancer, immune, and stromal cells. Progression of tumor growth and initiation of metastasis is critically dependent on the reciprocal interactions between cancer cells and stroma. Through RNA-Seq and protein analyses, we found that cancer-associated fibroblasts derived from human breast cancer brain metastasis express significantly higher levels of chemokines CXCL12 and CXCL16 than fibroblasts from primary breast tumors or normal breast...

The data presented illustrated the in vitro anti-proliferative effect of the PSG toxin from the cuttlefish, Sepia pharaonis. The cytostatic potentials of the PSG toxin were determined by the lymphocyte migration inhibition assay. The PSG toxin (50 μg/ml) exhibited commendable inhibition of the migration of lymphocytes across the agarose gel matrix under the presence of lipopolysaccharide mitogen, with a mean migration index of 0.625. The cytotoxicity of the PSG toxin against selected cancer cell lines was determined using the MTT assay...

Collective cell migration is a common phenotype in epithelial cancers, which is associated with tumor cell metastasis and poor patient survival. However, the interplay between physiologically relevant pro-migratory stimuli and the underlying mechanical cell-cell interactions are poorly understood. We investigated the migratory behavior of different collectively migrating non-small cell lung cancer cell lines in response to motogenic growth factors (e.g. epidermal growth factor) or clinically relevant small compound inhibitors...

Adhesion is a critical cellular process that contributes to migration, apoptosis, differentiation, and division. It is followed by the redistribution of cellular materials at the cell membrane or at the cell-surface interface for cells interacting with surfaces, such as basement membranes. Dynamic and quantitative tracking of changes in cell adhesion mass redistribution is challenging because cells are rapidly moving, inhomogeneous, and nonequilibrium objects, whose physical and mechanical properties are difficult to measure or predict...

Recent evidence shows that dopamine D2-like receptor (D2DR) antagonists, such as trifluoperazine and thioridazine, are effective for cancer therapy and inhibition of cancer stem-like cells (CSCs). In this study, we investigated the anti-cancer effects of combination therapy of dexamethasone (DEX) and sulpiride (SUL), an atypical antipsychotic, against drug-resistant and metastatic breast cancers and further explored the underlying mechanisms. Oral administration of SUL (25, 100 mg·kg(-1)·d(-1)) alone did not inhibit the tumor growth in human breast cancer MCF-7/Adr xenograft model, but dose-dependently decreased the proportion of CSCs in vitro and in vivo...

A series of thiazole linked indolyl-3-glyoxylamide derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for their in vitro cytotoxic activity against DU145 (prostate), PC-3 (prostate), A549 (lung) and HCT-15 (colon) cancer cell lines by employing the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay. Among all the synthesized compounds, compound 13d displayed cytotoxicity of IC50 = 93 nM towards DU145 cancer cell line. The most active compound 13d was also tested on RWPE-1 cells and was found to be safe compared to the DU145 cells...

Since its first description in 1966, macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) was found to play a critical role in inflammatory and immune responses as well as in disease pathogenesis especially in tumor pathogenesis and cancer progression. MIF is expressed in different cell types and is associated with many disease severity and tumor pathogenesis. Here, we investigated the influence of TLR7 and TLR8 agonist resiquimod (R848), an immune response inducer used as a prophylactic agent for several infectious diseases as well as anticancer agents and vaccine adjuvant on MIF expression in cells and organs...

Metastasis is the major cause of death from lung cancer. Quercetin, a widely distributed bioflavonoid, is well known to induce growth inhibition in a variety of human cancer cells, but how it affects lung cancer cell invasion and metastasis is unclear. Herein, we found that quercetin inhibited the migration/invasion of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cell lines and bone metastasis in an orthotopic A549 xenograft model by suppressing the Snail-mediated epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Moreover, survival times of animals were also prolonged after quercetin treatment...

Cancer stem cells are responsible for tumor recurrence and metastasis. A new highly reproducible procedure for human breast cancer MCF-7 stem cells (BCSC) isolation and selection was developed by using a combination of hypoxia/hypoglycemia plus taxol and adriamycin for 24h. The BCSC enriched fraction (i) expressed (2-15 times) the typical stemness protein markers CD44+, ALDH1A3 and Oct 3/4; (ii) increased its clonogenicity index (20-times), invasiveness profile (>70%), migration capacity (100%) and ability to form mammospheres, compared to its non-metastatic MCF-7 counterpart...

Endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane protein complex subunit 6 (EMC6) is a novel human autophagy-related molecule. Here, using tissue microarray and immunohistochemistry, we report that EMC6 protein is lost or reduced in glandular cells of patients with gastric adenocarcinoma, compared to normal stomach mucosa. Overexpression of EMC6 in gastric cancer cells inhibited cell growth, migration, and invasion, and induced apoptosis and cell cycle arrest at S-phase. Further investigation suggested that EMC6 overexpression in BGC823 cells reduced tumorigenicity in a xenograft model, demonstrating that EMC6 has the characteristics of a tumor suppressor...

Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) regulates many vital signaling pathways and play critical role in cell proliferation, survival, migration, and resistance. Earlier we reported that a small molecule KS99 is an inhibitor of tubulin polymerization. In the present study we explored that whether KS99 is a dual inhibitor of BTK and tubulin polymerization. While it is known that BTK is required for clonogenic growth, and resistance; and microtubules are essential for cancer cell growth; dual targeting of these two components has not been explored...