ABSTRACT
Objective To investigate the effect of TGF-β1 on epithelial mesenchymal transition in Hela cells of human cervi-cal cancer.Methods Hela cells of Human cervical cancer cultured in vitro were divided into the experimental group and control group.In the control group,Hela cells were cultured in serum-free medium without TGF-β1.In the experimental group,Hela cells were treated with different concentrations of TGF-β1 (0.01,0.10,1.00,10.00 ng/mL).The morphological changes of Hela cells of human cervical cancer were stimulated by TGF-β1 at different time points observed under an inverted microscope,while the expres-sions of mRNA and protein of E-cadherin and Vimentin in Hela cells were detected by semi-quantitative RT-PCR assay and cellular immunohistochemistry respectively.Results Comparing with the control group,Hela cells stimulated by TGF-β1 for 48 h began to have morphological changes.Mesenchymal morphology changes were observed obviously after 72 h.RT-PCR analysis showed that the expression of epithelial marker E-cadherin mRNA was down regulated,while the expression of mesenchymal marker Vimentin mRNA was increased and showed a concentration dependence after the stimulation of TGF-β1,Comparing with the control group, the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05 ).After stimulation of TGF-β1 in Hela cells,cellular immunohistochemistry showed that the concentration of TGF-β1 increased,the expression of E-cadherin protein gradually decreased,and the expression of Vimentin protein gradually increased at the same time.Comparing with the control group,the difference was statistically significant (P <0.05).Conclusion TGF-β1 may induce epithelial mesenchymal transformation in Hela cells of human cervical cancer.