ASSOCIATION OF FIBROBLASTOID FEATURES WITH THE INVASIVE PHENOTYPE IN HUMAN BRONCHIAL-CANCER CELL-LINES

The acquisition of a metastatic phenotype by epithelial cells implicat es a series of changes altering their differentiation, their overall b ehavior and morphology. In the present study, we have examined the rel ationships between the cellular morphology, E-cadherin expression, mat rix metalloproteinases expression and in vitro invasive properties in two human bronchial immortalized cell lines. The (16HBE14o-) cell line which did not show any invasive abilities in the Boyden chamber assay displayed a typical epithelial morphology in monolayer, expressed hig h levels of E-cadherin and synthesized neither MMP-2 and MT1-MMP nor v imentin. In contrast, the BZR cell line which was highly invasive disp layed a more elongated phenotype in monolayer, did not produce E-cadhe rin but expressed vimentin, MMP-2 and MT1-MMP. Our data therefore sugg est that the metastatic progression of broncho-pulmonary cancer cells results in a cellular dedifferentiation and the gain of some mesenchym al attributes (loss of E-cadherin and expression of vimentin) associat ed with enhanced degradative properties (expression of metalloproteina ses). (C) 1998 Rapid Science Ltd.