Abstract
BackgroundThe altered expression of prolactin (PRL) and its receptor (PRLR) has been implicated in breast and other types of cancer. There are few studies that have focused on the analysis of PRL/PRLR in cervical cancer where the development of neoplastic lesions is influenced by the variation of the hormonal status. The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of PRL/PRLR and the effect of PRL treatment on cell proliferation and apoptosis in cervical cancer cell lines.ResultsHigh expression of multiple PRLR forms and PRLvariants of 60–80 kDa were observed in cervical cancer cell lines compared with non-tumorigenic keratinocytes evaluated by Western blot, immunofluorecence and real time PCR. Treatment with PRL (200 ng/ml) increased cell proliferation in HeLa cells determined by the MTT assay at day 3 and after 1 day a protective effect against etoposide induced apoptosis in HeLa, SiHa and C-33A cervical cancer cell lines analyzed by the TUNEL assay.ConclusionsOur data suggests that PRL/PRLR signaling could act as an important survival factor for cervical cancer. The use of an effective PRL antagonist may provide a better therapeutic intervention in cervical cancer.
Highlights
The altered expression of prolactin (PRL) and its receptor (PRLR) has been implicated in breast and other types of cancer
Standard culture conditions Cervical cancer cell lines (HeLa, SiHa, and C-33 A), as well as two human breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7, T-47D) and non-tumorigenic human keratinocytes (HaCaT) were obtained from the American Type Culture Collection (Rockville, MD); cells were cultured in a water-jacketed incubator at 37°C under an atmosphere of 95% air and 5% CO2 in RPMI 1640 or DMEM medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS), L-glutamine (2 mM), penicillin (100 U/ml), streptomycin (100 μg/ml)
PRL receptor (PRLR) is highly expressed in cervical cancer cells PRLR expression was assessed in cervical cancer cell lines (HeLa, SiHa and C-33A) and human nontumorigenic keratinocytes (HaCaT) by western blot, immunocitochemistry and real time-PCR
Summary
The altered expression of prolactin (PRL) and its receptor (PRLR) has been implicated in breast and other types of cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate the expression of PRL/PRLR and the effect of PRL treatment on cell proliferation and apoptosis in cervical cancer cell lines. Results: High expression of multiple PRLR forms and PRLvariants of 60–80 kDa were observed in cervical cancer cell lines compared with non-tumorigenic keratinocytes evaluated by Western blot, immunofluorecence and real time PCR. Clinical studies report that reducing circulating PRL levels did not improve the condition of advanced breast cancer patients [5]. This controversial view of PRL in human cancer has been considerably modified in the past 10 years.
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