Suppression subtractive hybridisation to isolate differentially expressed genes involved in invasiveness of melanoma cell line cultured under different conditions

Abstract

We have previously analysed the invasion capacity of different melanoma cell lines in the three-dimensional dermal equivalent. The melanoma cell line M4Beu acquired invasive behaviour upon changing its cultivation conditions before the seeding on top of the collagen lattice from single cell suspension to spheroid. Based on this phenomenon SSH was used to search for the genes related to the invasive phenotype of melanoma cells. From differentially expressed clones we focused on four: fibronectin, RhoA, COXII, and H-ras-like protein. By RT-PCR the expression of these genes were tested in different populations (monolayer, spheroids on dermal equivalent) of melanoma cell line M4Beu and three additional melanoma cell lines. The expression of fibronectin was also examined by immunohistochemistry staining of co-culture spheroids-dermal equivalent.