title: In vitro demonstration of breast cancer tumor cell sub-populations based on interleukin-1/tumor necrosis factor induction of interleukin-8 expression.
abstract: Interleukin-8 (IL-8) has been identified as an angiogenesis factor (AF) as well as a tumor cell chemotactic factor and mitogen. Recent in vivo studies have demonstrated the expression of IL-8, IL-1 and TNF, as well their receptors, on various sub-populations of tumor cells in human breast cancer (HBC). Since pro-inflammatory cytokines such as IL-1 and TNF are known inducers of IL-8 in non-tumor cells, we hypothesize that IL-1/TNF may act as an IL-8 inducer in HBC, and thus enhance HBC tumor progression. To begin to test this hypothesis, we evaluated the ability of: a) human breast cancer cell lines (BCC) and normal human breast epithelial cell lines (BEC) to produce IL-8 in vitro; and b) IL-1 and TNF to regulate the expression of IL-8. In general, basal IL-8 expression was low in all 8 cell lines examined. TNF-alpha and TNF-beta induced a 3- to 24-fold increase in IL-8 protein expression of BEC, and a 2- to 8-fold increased IL-8 expression in estrogen-independent BCC cell lines and no significant IL-8 expression in estrogen-dependent cell lines. Conversely, IL-1alpha and IL-1beta, induced a 5- to 104-fold stimulation of BEC and a 330 to 1,138-fold increase in IL-8 expression in estrogen independent BCC. These observations demonstrate the ability of HBC cells to produce IL-8 in vitro and further indicate that IL-1 is a potent inducer of IL-8 expression by BEC and BCC. Furthermore, this in vitro data support the hypothesis, that within the HBC tumor microenvironment, tumor cells exist that respond to pro-inflammatory cytokine (IL-1) stimulation (i.e. MDA-MB-231) and those that do not (i.e. MCF-7). Additionally, HBC tumor cell lines that can be induced to express high levels of IL-8 tend to be associated with a more aggressive phenotype.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, CT 06030-3105, USA.
authors.forename: Alexander G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Pantschenko
authors.forename: Irina
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pushkar
authors.forename: Lauri J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Yan Ping
authors.initials: YP
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Kathleen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: Ziv
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Peled
authors.forename: Scott H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Kurtzman
authors.forename: Donald L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Kreutzer
mesh_terms: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology*; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000145:classification* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000378:metabolism*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D007375:Interleukin-1 / Q000494:pharmacology*; D016209:Interleukin-8 / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D007375:Interleukin-1; D016209:Interleukin-8; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha