Talin-1 Correlates with Reduced Invasion and Migration in Human Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cells

Abstract

<b>Background:</b> Talin-1 is a cytoskeleton protein that participates in cell migration and plays a role in tumorformation, migration, and metastasis in different types of cancer. Chinese investigators have observed that thelevels of Talin-1 protein and mRNA expression in HCC tissues are significantly lower than in the adjacent noncanceroustissue. However, Japanese investigators have reported that Talin-1 is upregulated in HCC. Tln2 ashomologous gene of Tln-1, which encodes a very similar protein, but the role of Talin-2 is very little known inprimary liver cancer (PLC). We investigated whether the expression of Talin-1 in PLC may be associated with thehistological subtype as well as the role of Talin-1 in tumor cell invasion and migration using human hepatocellularcarcinoma cell lines. Materials and <br/><b>Methods</b>: We measured the mRNA expression levels of Talin-1 and Talin-2 infive human liver cancer cell lines and normal human liver cell (LO2 cell line) by real-time PCR and the proteinexpression levels of Talin-1 by Western blot. Migration and invasion of the cells were assessed using transwellassays and cell scratch experiments, respectively, and proliferation was assessed by soft AGAR colony formation.<br/><b>Results</b>: Talin-1 and Talin-2 expression differed significantly between the five human liver cancer cell lines andLO2 cell line (p<0.05). Compared with the LO2 cell line, the invasion and migration capabilities of the five cancercell lines differed significantly (p<0.05). Similarly, the colony-forming ability differed (p<0.05). <br/><b>Conclusions</b>: Highlevels of Talin-1 expression are correlated with reduced invasion and migration as well as decreased malignancyin human liver cancer cell lines; the suppression of Talin-1 promotes invasion and migration. In addition, Talin-2may be correlated with invasion and migration in human hepatocellular carcinoma.