Effect of down-regulation of focal adhesion kinase on adhesion, migration and invasion of liver cancer cells

Abstract

Objective To study the effect and mechanism of down-regulation of focal adhesion on cell adhesion, migration and invasion of hepatocellular carcinoma cells. Methods According to the different treatments, human HCC-LM3 cells were divided into untreated group (tumor cells were not treated), control group (tumor cells were transfected with the empty vector) and FAK-shRNA group(expression of FAK was stably low). Cell adhesion, migration and invasion were tested by using cell adhesion assay, wound healing assay and Transwell assay, respectively. The expression and activation of cell adhesion and invasion related protein paxillin, p130Cas, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 were detected by using Western blotting in HCC-LM3 cells (untreated group, control group and FAK-shRNA group). Results Down-regulation of FAK could significantly reduce the ability of cell adhesion, migration and invasion. The activation of paxillin and p130Cas were not influenced, while p-paxillin and p-p130Cas were inhibited, and the expression of MMP-2 and MMP-9 were significantly decreased (P<0.01). Conclusion Down-regulation of FAK can affect cell adhesion, migration and invasion by regulating the expression or activation of cell adhesion molecules in human HCC-LM3 cells. Key words: Liver neoplasms; Focal adhesion kinase; Neoplasm invasiveness; Cell migration assays; Adhesion