Culture of human A375 melanoma cells in the presence of fibronectin causes expression of MMP-9 and activation of MMP-2 in culture supernatants.

Unlabelled: Interactions between tumor cell surface integrin receptors and extracellular matrix (ECM) ligands play an important role in tumor development, affecting cell survival, proliferation, and migration. Integrin-ECM ligand interaction leads to phosphorylation of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways. It has been reported that integrins also regulate expression and function of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). In this present work, we cultured human A375 melanoma cells in the presence of fibronectin to study fibronectin-integrin mediated modulation of MMP activity.

Methods: A375 cells were cultured in serum-free culture medium (SFCM) in the presence of fibronectin (25 microg/0.75 ml), SFCM was collected and gelatin zymography was performed. Western blot and RT-PCR were performed with A375 cells cultured in the presence of fibronectin.

Results: Culture of A375 cells in the presence of fibronectin led to expression of MMP-9 and activation of MMP-2 within 2 h. When cells were treated with ERK inhibitor (PD98059) or PI-3K inhibitor (LY294002) and grown in the presence of fibronectin, MMP-9 expression and MMP-2 activation was inhibited. Tyrosine phosphorylation of FAK and ERK were increased in A375 cells grown in the presence of fibronectin. Increased MMP-9 mRNA expression and processing of MT1-MMP were also observed in A375 cells grown in the presence of fibronectin.

Conclusions: Our findings indicate culture of A375 cells in SFCM in the presence of fibronectin perhaps generates a signaling cascade that leads to expression of MMP-9 and activation of MMP-2 in culture supernatants within 2 h. The signaling pathway activated is probably the FAK/ERK pathway.