Transfer of interleukin 6 gene into MCF-7 human breast cancer cells enhances expression of tumor-associated antigens

Abstract

Abstract: AIM: To investigate the mechanism by which IL-6 is involved in cancer prognosis, and further to demonstrate the relationship between IL-6 and tumor-associated antigens such as CA15-3, CEA and CA125 in breast cancer.METHODS: In the present study, we transfected an exogenous IL-6 gene into the MCF-7 cells. Secretion of CA15-3, CEA and CA125 into the culture media were measured by Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA).RESULTS: After a 72 hours in culture, the amount of IL-6 in the media of pCI-neo-IL-6-transfected MCF-7 cells (338.5 ±22.6 pg/10⁶ cells) was significantly higher than that of non-transfected MCF-7 cells (25.4 ±4.6 pg/10⁶ cells, P <0.01, paired ttest), or pCI-neo-transfected MCF-7 cells (19.6 ± 3.0 pg/10⁶ cells, P <0.01, paired t-test).The levels of CA15-3, CEA and CA125 secreted by the pCI-neo-IL-6-transfected MCF-7 cells were significantly higher than that of the parental MCF-7 cells or pCI-neo-transfected MCF-7 cells.The specific IL-6 antibody could decrease the expression of CA15-3, CEA and CA125 in both the MCF-7 cells and the IL-6 cDNA-transfected MCF-7 cells. CONCLUSION: Transfer of IL-6 gene augments tumorassociated antigens of human breast cancer cells.The association of elevated IL-6 concentration with a poor prognosis in cancer patients may partially be the result of increased expression of tumor-associated antigens by IL-6.

Key words: breast cancer, tumor-associated antigen, interleukin 6, gene transfection

CLC Number:

R965.3

JIANG Xian-peng, Robert L.Elliott, Jonathan F.Head. Transfer of interleukin 6 gene into MCF-7 human breast cancer cells enhances expression of tumor-associated antigens[J]. Chinese Journal of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics, 2007, 12(3): 275-281.

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