Interleukin-18 induces transferrin expression in breast cancer cell line MCF-7
Received 30 September 2008; received in revised form 21 May 2009; accepted 25 May 2009. published online 17 June 2009.
Abstract
Interleukin-18 (IL-18) has recently been shown to have a pro-cancer effect in various cancers. Increased serum levels of both IL-18 and transferrin in cancer patients are correlated with its malignancy. However, the relationship between transferrin and IL-18 is not well understood. Here, we show that exogenous transferrin enhanced breast cancer cell proliferation and the proliferation rate was reduced when endogenous transferrin expression was inhibited by transferrin siRNA. The expression of endogenous transferrin was found to be regulated by IL-18. Furthermore, we found that the MAPK pathway is involved in IL-18-induced transferrin production. In conclusion, IL-18 is suggested as an inducer of endogenous transferrin expression in breast cancer cells.
aDepartment of Life Science, Sookmyung Women’s University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
bDepartment of Anatomy and Research Center for Women’s Disease, Inje University Busan Paik Hospital, Busan, Republic of Korea
cDepartment of Anatomy, College of Medicine, Chung Ang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea
dDepartment of Plastic Surgery, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea
Corresponding authors. Addresses: Department of Plastic Surgery, Samsung Medical Center, 50 Ilwon-dong, Kangnam-gu, Seoul 135-710, Republic of Korea. Tel.: +82 2 3410 2215; fax: +82 2 3410 0036 (S.I. Bang), Department of Life Science, Sookmyung Women’s University, 52 Hyochangwon-gil, Yongsan-gu, Seoul 140-742, Republic of Korea. Tel.: +82 2 710 9416; fax: +82 2 6359 6789 (D.-H. Cho).
ABSTRACT