Gastric Cancer
Copyright ©2005 Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Oct 28, 2005; 11(40): 6243-6248
Published online Oct 28, 2005. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v11.i40.6243
Endothelial adhesion of synchronized gastric tumor cells changes during cell cycle transit and correlates with the expression level of CD44 splice variants
Anton Oertl, Jens Castein, Tobias Engl, Wolf-Dietrich Beecken, Dietger Jonas, Richard Melamed, Roman A. Blaheta
Anton Oertl, Jens Castein, Tobias Engl, Wolf-Dietrich Beecken, Dietger Jonas, Richard Melamed, Roman A. Blaheta, Zentrum der Chirurgie, Klinik fü Urologie und Kinderurologie, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, 60590 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Author contributions: All authors contributed equally to the work.
Supported by the “Matthias Lackas-Stiftung” and the “Gisela Stadelmann-Stiftung”
Correspondence to: Dr. Roman Blaheta, J. W. Goethe Universitäsklinik, Zentrum der Chirurgie, Klinik fü Urologie und Kinderurologie, Interdisziplinäes Forschungs und Laborgebäde, Haus 25, Raum 204, Theodor-Stern-Kai 7, D-60590 Frankfurt am Main, Germany. blaheta@em.uni-frankfurt.de
Telephone: +49-69-6301-6415 Fax: +49-69-6301-7108
Received: February 24, 2005
Revised: May 21, 2005
Accepted: May 24, 2005
Published online: October 28, 2005
Abstract

AIM: To study adhesion capacity and CD44 expression of human gastric adenocarcinoma MKN45 cells at different stages of a first cell cycle.

METHODS: MKN45 cells were synchronized by aphidicolin and assayed for adhesion to an endothelial cell (HUVEC) monolayer. Surface expression of CD44 and CD44 splice variants on MKN45 cells was evaluated by flow cytometry. Functional relevance of CD44 adhesion receptors was investigated by blocking studies using anti CD44 monoclonal antibodies or by hyaluronan digestion.

RESULTS: Adhesion of MKN45 to HUVEC was increased during G2/M transit, after which adhesion returned to baseline levels with cell cycle completion. In parallel, CD44 splice variants CD44v4, CD44v5, and CD44v7 were all up-regulated on MKN45 during cell cycle progression with a maximum effect in G2/M. The function of CD44 surface receptors was assessed with specific receptor blocking monoclonal antibodies or removal of hyaluronan by digestion with hyaluronidase. Both strategies inhibited tumor cell adhesion to HUVEC by nearly 50%, which indicates that MKN45-HUVEC-interaction is CD44 dependent.

CONCLUSION: CD44 expression level is linked to the cell cycle in gastrointestinal tumor cells, which in turn leads to cell cycle dependent alterations of their adhesion behaviour to endothelium.

Keywords: Cell cycle; CD44; Adhesion; Gastrointestinal tumors