Differential thymosin beta 10 expression levels and actin filament organization in tumor cell lines with different metastatic potential / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

ABSTRACT

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>To investigate the differential expression levels of thymosin beta 10 (T beta 10) and the corresponding changes of actin filament organization in human tumor cell lines with different metastatic potential.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Four groups of nine human tumor cell lines with different metastatic potential were analyzed for the amount of T beta 10 mRNAs by Northern blot and for their peptide expression levels by immunohistochemistry. The filamentous actin (F-actin) was observed by staining of TRITC-phalloidin to detect changes in actin organization.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In comparison with non-/weakly metastatic counterparts, T beta 10 was upregulated in highly metastatic human lung cancer, malignant melanoma and breast cancer cell lines. Staining of TRITC-phalloidin revealed less actin bundles, a fuzzy network of shorter filaments and some F-actin aggregates in the highly metastatic tumor cells. Meanwhile, the actin filaments were robust and orderly arranged in the non-/weakly metastatic cancer cell lines.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>T beta 10 levels correlate positively with the metastatic capacity in human tumors currently examined. The increasing metastatic potential of tumor cells is accompanied by a loss of F-actin, poorly arranged actin skeleton organizations and presence of F-actin aggregates. There is a consistent correlation between the elevated T beta 10 expression and the disrupted actin skeleton.</p>