Effect of anticancer drugs on invasive capacity of human small-cell lung cancer cells in vitro

Abstract

The effect of anticancer drugs on invasive capacity of Lu 135 human small-cell lung cancer cells was studied in vitro. the invasive capacity decreased in a dose-dependent manner when tumor cells were treated with the anticancer drugs cisplatin and etopside. The inhibition of tumor cell invasion was almost parallel with the inhibition of tumor cell growth. The anticancer drugs also suppressed tumor cell migration and the activity of the matrix-degrading protease, type IV collagenase, activity. But they did not suppress adhesion to basement membrane protein such as laminin, fibronectin, or type IV collagen. Because tumor cells express adhesion molecules on the cell surface, the effect of the anticancer drugs on the expression of one such molecule, integrin, was also studied. Lu 135 cells expressed alpha 4/beta 1 integrin on the cell surface, and the pattern of integrin expression did not change with exposure with the anticancer drugs. These data suggest that the anticancer drugs inhibit the invasive capacity by suppression of migration and type IV collagenase activity of tumor cells, and that they do not modulate adhesion to the extracellular matrix or cell surface adhesion molecules such as integrin. Furthermore, these findings indicate that anticancer drugs may be useful for anti-metastatic therapy in patients with small-cell lung cancer.