Background & objective: Metastasis associated proteins play important roles in metastasis. This study was to investigate proteins which may be involved in breast cancer cell metastasis and further explore the potential mechanisms.
Methods: LM-MCF-7 and MCF-7, two breast cancer cell lines with different metastatic potentials, derived from the same parent cell line, were used in our study. Proteomics and Western blot were applied to identify differentially expressed proteins. Wound healing assay was performed to observe the effect of survivin gene on breast cancer cell migration by transfecting pcDNA3-Sur plasmid into MCF-7 cells.
Results: Eight differently expressed proteins, which were correlated with cell structures, cellular metabolism, apoptosis, protein enfold or interaction, were identified. Protein expression of nm23 and p27 was relatively higher in MCF-7 cells; while the expression of survivin, Bcl-2 and myosin light chain kinase was relatively higher in LM-MCF-7 cells. Increased migration ability was observed in MCF-7 cells which were transfected with pcDNA3-Sur.
Conclusion: Metastasis associated proteins exist in breast cancer cell lines with different metastatic abilities. Survivin is closely related to the metastasis in breast cancer cells.