Abstract
BackgroundDue to their restricted expression in male germ cells and certain tumors, cancer/testis (CT) antigens are regarded as promising targets for tumor therapy. CT45 is a recently identified nuclear CT antigen that was associated with a severe disease score in Hodgkin’s lymphoma and poor prognosis in multiple myeloma. As for many CT antigens, the biological function of CT45 in developing germ cells and in tumor cells is largely unknown.MethodsCT45 expression was down-regulated in CT45-positive Hodgkin’s lymphoma (L428), fibrosarcoma (HT1080) and myeloma (U266B1) cells using RNA interference. An efficient CT45 knock-down was confirmed by immunofluorescence staining and/or Western blotting. These cellular systems allowed us to analyze the impact of CT45 down-regulation on proliferation, cell cycle progression, morphology, adhesion, migration and invasive capacity of tumor cells.ResultsReduced levels of CT45 did not coincide with changes in cell cycle progression or proliferation. However, we observed alterations in cell adherence, morphology and migration/invasion after CT45 down-regulation. Significant changes in the distribution of cytoskeleton-associated proteins were detected by confocal imaging. Changes in cell adherence were recorded in real-time using the xCelligence system with control and siRNA-treated cells. Altered migratory and invasive capacity of CT45 siRNA-treated cells were visualized in 3D migration and invasion assays. Moreover, we found that CT45 down-regulation altered the level of the heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein syncrip (hnRNP-Q1) which is known to be involved in the control of focal adhesion formation and cell motility.ConclusionsProviding first evidence of a cell biological function of CT45, we suggest that this cancer/testis antigen is involved in the modulation of cell morphology, cell adherence and cell motility. Enhanced motility and/or invasiveness of CT45-positive cells could contribute to the more severe disease progression that is correlated to CT45-positivity in several malignancies.
Highlights
Due to their restricted expression in male germ cells and certain tumors, cancer/testis (CT) antigens are regarded as promising targets for tumor therapy
In order to assess the cell biological function of CT45, we investigated the effects of CT45 down-regulation by RNA interference in established CT45-positive Hodgkin’s lymphoma, myeloma and fibrosarcoma cell lines
We report that reduced levels of CT45 do not alter cell cycle progression or proliferation, but modulate cell morphology, adherence and migration as shown for Hodgkin’s lymphoma and/or fibrosarcoma cell lines
Summary
Due to their restricted expression in male germ cells and certain tumors, cancer/testis (CT) antigens are regarded as promising targets for tumor therapy. CT45 is a recently identified nuclear CT antigen that was associated with a severe disease score in Hodgkin’s lymphoma and poor prognosis in multiple myeloma. Cancer/Testis (CT) antigens comprise a heterogeneous group of more than 150 proteins with an eponymous expression pattern being restricted to male germ cells in normal human testis and to tumor cells of different origin [1,2,3]. In germ cell tumors (e.g. seminoma), in Hodgkin’s lymphoma, ovarian cancer and multiple myeloma, CT45 is expressed in a larger number of cases [11,12,13,14,15]. Methylated CpG islands in the CT45 promotor suppress CT45 expression, whereas demethylation by 5′-aza-2′-deoxycytidine treatment induces the expression of CT45 even in a priori CT45-negative HeLa cells [12] (and own unpublished results)
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