Effects of IL-6 on invasion of pancreatic cancer cells and its mechanism / 中华肝胆外科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the effects and mechanism of IL-6 on invasion and metastasis of human pancreatic cancer cells. Methods IL-6 was added into the culture media of human pancreatic cancer cells Capan-2 and SW1990. Cell growth was measured by MTT assay. Western blot and immunocytochemistry were performed to detect Phosphorylated STAT3 (P-STAT3) protein. VEGF and MMP-2 mRNA and protein expression were examined using fluorescence quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Western blot, respectively. The invasion ability of SW1990 and Capan2 cells was determined by cell invasion assay in vitro. Results 100 ng/mL IL-6 significantly promoted growth and invasion ability of Capan-2 and SW1990 cells (P＜0.05). The use of IL-6 not only markedly increased the protein expression of P-STAT3, VEGF and MMP-2, but also greatly increased the mRNA expression of MMP-2 and VEGF. Conclusions STAT3 signal transducer pathway activation with IL-6 can promote the invasion ability of pancreatic cancer cells in vitro through up-regulation of MMP-2 and VEGF expression. STAT3 signal transducer may provide a novel therapeutic target for the treatment of pancreatic cancer.