Primary cilia in cancer cells

Abstract

Primary cilia are sensory organelles that exist on the surface of most cells. Since primary cilia play an important role in cell cycle and cilia‐related signaling pathways (e.g. Hedghog and Wnt signaling pathways), ciliary dysfunction has been proposed as an essential factor of cancer development. In our current study, we characterized the expression of the primary cilia in two breast cancer (MCF7 and MDA132), two prostate cancer (PC3 and DU145), and one lung cancer (NL20‐TA) cell lines by counting number of cilia formation and measuring cilia length. We also examined the effect of shear stress on the cilia number and cilia length. Moreover, we investigated the correlation between primary cilia and cilia‐related signaling pathways. We found that the frequency and the length of the primary cilia were reduced in MCF7 and MDA‐MB‐231 breast cancer cells and in PC3 prostate cancer. Primary cilia were absent in DU‐145 prostate cancer and NL20‐TA lung cancer. The β‐catenin of Wnt signaling pathway was elevated in the prostate and lung cancers, while Gli1 and smoothened of Hedghog pathway remained the same. Our results suggested an association between primary cilia and Wnt signaling in cancer cells.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2019 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.