The Role Of TGFβ 1 In Progression Of Gastric Carcinoma And Its Possible Mechanism

Invasion and metastasis is the major characteristic of malignant tumors and always responsible for the death of patients with malignant tumors .The mechanism for the development of invasion and metastasis is quite complex. It is modulated by multiple factors, for example, the broken balance between the promoters and suppressors under the progression of gene instability and mutation, which will lead to enhanced invasion, formation of new vascular and metastasis. So, further investigations on the promoters or suppressors will not only help us know more about invasion and metastasis, but provide effective target for treatment.Recently, it has been reported that transforming growth factor beta (TGFβ) is involved in the development of invasion and metastasis. But it plays different even contradictory role in different tumors. For example, TGFβ1 has been documented to suppress the invasive potential of renal carcinoma, fibrosarcoma and thyroid cancer cells in vitro, but in breast cancer, expression of TGFβ1 is positively associated with invasion and metastasis. The mechanism for the contradictory role of TGFβ1 is not clear.In China, the mortality of patients with gastric cancer is quite high. It was reported that an elevated serum level and over-expression of TGFβ1 in primary gastric cancer were significantly correlated with lymph node metastasis and poor prognosis in patients with gastric carcinoma. However, there is no further evidence confirming that TGFβ1 can directly affect the invasive and metastatic abilities of gastric cancer cells. Our study was designed to determine the exact role of TGFβ1 on the invasion and metastasis of gastric cancer and to explore its possible mechanisms.The invasive abilities of SGC-7901, BGC-823, MKN-28 cells were examined with transwell invasion filter and Matrigel after they were treated with 10ng/ml TGF β1, respectively. The present study shows that TGF β1 promotes the invasive abilities of SGC-7901 and BGC-823 cells (P<0.05), but has no effect on MKN-28( a TGF β -resistant cell line).