ASSOCIATION OF LAMININ RECEPTOR GENE FRAGMENTS WITH NUCLEAR MATRICES IN HIGH AND LOW METASTATIC CANCER CELL-LINES

Interactions between tumor cells and laminin play an important role in the complex cascade of events in metastasis. We investigated the asso ciation of laminin receptor DNA fragments with nuclear matrix in two c arcinoma cell lines with different metastatic potentials. Two fragment s of DNA (474 bp and 855 bp) were amplified and detected in the genomi c DNA of both cell lines. With the extraction of residual DNA from nuc lear matrix, positive association of the 474 bp DNA fragment with nucl ear matrix was demonstrated in both cell lines. Nevertheless, the inte nsity of this amplified product in the high metastatic cell line is mu ch stronger than that in the low metastatic cell line. The long DNA fr agment was not detected in both cell lines indicating that part of the laminin receptor gene was hardly intact after sequential extraction w ith detergent, high salt and enzymes. Our findings show the possibilit y that the attachment of the 474 bp DNA fragment to nuclear matrix may contribute to the difference in metastatic properties of these two ce ll lines.