title: TIMP-1 mediates the inhibitory effect of interleukin-6 on the proliferation of a hepatocarcinoma cell line in a STAT3-dependent manner.
abstract: The tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases (TIMP)-1 is a multifunctional protein which is not only an inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) but also to have a possible "cytokine-like" action. Here, we first compared mRNA expression of TIMP-1 and MMP-9 in BEL-7402 (a hepatocellular carcinoma cell line), L-02 (a normal liver cell line) and QSG-7701 (a cell line derived from peripheral tissue of liver carcinoma) using real-time quantitative RT-PCR. By evaluating the variation of the MMP-9/TIMP-1 ratio as an index of reciprocal changes of the expression of the two genes, we observed that the MMP-9/TIMP-1 ratio was about 13- and 5-fold higher in BEL-7402 than in L-02 and QSG-7701, respectively. Significantly, overexpression of TIMP-1 decreased the MMP-9/TIMP-1 ratio in BEL-7402 and then inhibited the cell growth to 60% and reduced the migration to about 30%. Meanwhile, our data showed that interleukin-6 (IL-6) (100 ng/mL) could also inhibited the cell growth of BEL-7402. Further studies indicated that TIMP-1 mediated the inhibitory effect of IL-6 on BEL-7402 cell proliferation in a STAT3-dependent manner, which could further accelerate the expression of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor p21. A dominant negative STAT3 mutant totally abolished IL-6-induced TIMP-1 expression and its biological functions. The present results demonstrate that TIMP-1 may be one of the mediators that regulate the inhibitory effect of IL-6 on BEL-7402 proliferation in which STAT3 signal transduction and p21 up-regulation also play important roles.
authors.affiliation: Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Molecular and Medical Biotechnology, Life Sciences College, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing, China.
authors.forename: S-Y
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: R-L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.forename: D-H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: C-J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Li
mesh_terms: D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002465:Cell Movement; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D020780:Matrix Metalloproteinase 9 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D050796:STAT3 Transcription Factor / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D019715:Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinase-1 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D015854:Up-Regulation
chemical_list: D015850:Interleukin-6; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D050796:STAT3 Transcription Factor; D019715:Tissue Inhibitor of Metalloproteinase-1; D020780:Matrix Metalloproteinase 9