title: CXCR4 activation induces epidermal growth factor receptor transactivation in an ovarian cancer cell line.
abstract: Chemokines are a family of proteins that have pleiotropic biological effects. They are well known to regulate the recruitment and trafficking of leukocytes to sites of inflammation. Chemokines are grouped into four classes based on the positions of key cysteine residues: C, CC, CXC, and CX3C. Stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1), the ligand of the CXCR4 receptor, is a CXC chemokine and is a highly conserved gene. Ovarian cancer typically disseminates widely in the abdomen, a characteristic that limits curative therapy. The mechanisms that promote ovarian cancer proliferation are incompletely understood. We studied a human ovarian adenocarcinoma cell line (OC 314) and investigated the role of CXCR4 activation by SDF-1 in human ovarian cancer. We demonstrate that CXCR4 and SDF-1 mRNA are expressed in OC 314. We show that SDF-1alpha induces proliferation in ovarian cancer cells in a dose-dependent manner. Moreover, we demonstrate that the SDF-1-dependent proliferation correlates to the phosphorylation and activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK)1/2, which in turn are correlated to epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor transactivation. In fact, AG1478, a specific inhibitor of the EGF receptor kinase, blocked both SDF-1alpha-dependent proliferation and ERK1/2 activation.
authors.affiliation: Pharmacology and Neuroscience, National Institute for Cancer Research c/o Centro Biotecnologie Avanzate, Genoa, Italy.
authors.forename: Carola
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Porcile
authors.forename: Adriana
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bajetto
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Barbero
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pirani
authors.forename: Gennaro
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Schettini
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D001483:Base Sequence; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D054377:Chemokine CXCL12; D019743:Chemokines, CXC / Q000502:physiology; D017931:DNA Primers; D004789:Enzyme Activation; D066246:ErbB Receptors / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D020928:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology; D019718:Receptors, CXCR4 / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015533:Transcriptional Activation / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: C515255:CXCL12 protein, human; D054377:Chemokine CXCL12; D019743:Chemokines, CXC; D017931:DNA Primers; D019718:Receptors, CXCR4; D066246:ErbB Receptors; D020928:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases