Title
Molecular tools to reestablish progestin control of endometrial cancer cell proliferation.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
4-1-2001
Journal/Book/Conference Title
American journal of obstetrics and gynecology
Volume
184
DOI
10.1067/mob.2001.113844
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Endometrial cancers often arise in a setting of estrogen stimulation unopposed by the differentiating effects of progesterone. Our laboratory and others have previously shown that progesterone receptor down-regulation or perturbation of progesterone receptor isoform A or B expression is associated with the development of poorly differentiated endometrial cancers that are not growth inhibited by progestins. The purpose of these studies was to reestablish high progesterone receptor isoform A and B gene expressions in such endometrial cancer cells and to examine the effects of progestin treatment on cell growth and metastatic potential after this transformation.
STUDY DESIGN: To induce high levels of expression of the progesterone receptor isoforms in KLE and Hec50 endometrial cancer cells, adenoviral vectors encoding the genes for progesterone receptor isoforms A and B were created. The characteristic ability of cancer cells to grow independently of anchorage to the surrounding solid matrix was measured by counting colony formation on soft agar for 8 to 14 days. Cell proliferation in response to a time course of progestin treatment was tested with flow cytometry.
RESULTS: After treatment with a control vector without a progesterone receptor--encoding insert, no effect of progestin treatment on cell proliferation was found; after treatment with vectors encoding progesterone receptor isoform A or B, however, progestin treatment resulted in significant inhibition of cell growth. The anchorage-independent cell growth on soft agar assay showed that by 8 to 14 days the number of cell colonies was reduced by 50% relative to control preparations in the presence of progesterone receptor isoform A plus progestin (P
CONCLUSION: In poorly differentiated endometrial cancer cells that are resistant to progestin therapy, adenovirus-induced expressions of progesterone receptors A and B reestablish progestin control of endometrial cancer cell proliferation.
Keywords
Blotting, Western, Cell Division, Endometrial Neoplasms, Female, Flow Cytometry, Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic, Genetic Vectors, Humans, Progestins, Protein Isoforms, Receptors, Progesterone, Transfection, Tumor Cells, Cultured
URL
http://ir.uiowa.edu/obgyn_pubs/46