Caveolin-1 as tumor suppressor gene in breast cancer.
OBJECTIVE
Many articles have reported the caveolin-1 gene to be downregulated thus suggesting that it might be a candidate tumor suppressor gene in many tumors, but in bladder tumors the caveolin-1 gene was expressed and related to the pathological grade. We investigated the function of caveolin-1 protein in breast tumors.


METHODS
We introduced the caveolin-1 gene into a MCF-7 human breast cancer cell line, and examined its cell growth, cell viability, and anchorage-independent growth.


RESULTS
The caveolin-1 transfectants showed less proliferation than the vector control transfectants on the fourth day regarding the cell growth rate. In addition, the cell viability of the caveolin-1 transfectants was about 55% of the vector control. A soft agar assay of the caveolin-1 transfectants showed less growth with a lower number of colonies.


CONCLUSIONS
In MCF-7 cells, the caveolin-1 gene may influence the tumor suppressor efficacy.
D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D051242:Caveolin 1; D022461:Caveolins / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D016147:Genes, Tumor Suppressor; D006801:Humans; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014162:Transfection; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
C495540:CAV1 protein, human; D051242:Caveolin 1; D022461:Caveolins