Background & objective: Coxsackie and adenovirus receptor (CAR) was originally identified as the cellular receptor of 2,5-type adenovirus. Recent researches found that CAR is a subordinate cell adhesion molecule and plays an important role in the malignant phenotype changes of tumor cells. This study was to explore inhibitory effect of CAR on invasive and metastatic phenotype of ovarian cancer cell line SKOV3.
Methods: The expression of CAR in ovarian cancer cell lines SKOV3, CAOV3, SW626, and A2780 was detected by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-RCR) and Western blot. SKOV3 cells were transfected with the eukaryotic expression plasmid containing full-length CAR cDNA. The positive clones were screened by G418, and identified by RT-PCR, Western blot and ADV/GFP infection assay. The biological behavior changes of positively transfected cells were assessed by colony formation assay and cell adhesion assay.
Results: The expression of CAR was down-regulated in the 4 ovarian cancer cell lines, among which SKOV3 cells had no CAR expression. The mRNA and protein levels of CAR were obviously higher in CAR-transfected SKOV3 cells than in untransfected cells and mock-transfected cells; the adhesion ability of CAR-transfected SKOV3 cells was obviously enhanced. The colony formation count was significantly lower in CAR-transfected SKOV3 cells than in untransfected cells and mock-transfected cells (25.3+/-8.9 vs. 88.8+/-14.0, 82.5+/-19.4, P<0.05).
Conclusion: Transfected CAR gene may enhance the adhesion ability of ovarian cancer SKOV3 cells, therefore, inhibit the malignant metastatic phenotype of SKOV3 cells.