A Role for Integrin avß3 in Invasion Activity of Highly Metastatic Syrian Hamster Fibroblasts

Abstract

The expression of extracellular matrix (ECM) specific receptors, integrins, was investigated in two closely related strains of oncogenically transformed fibroblasts drastically differing in spontaneous metastasizing. The highly metastatic cells (HM) were shown to express in their surface membranes much higher levels of collagen/vitronectin-specific integrin avß3, as compared to their lowly metastatic counterparts (LM). Inhibition of the avß3-mediated signal transduction strongly reduced the in vitro invasiveness of HM, whereas stimulation of avß3 signaling markedly augmented their invasive activity. The data obtained provide a direct evidence for implication of avß3 integrin in invasive phenotype of the oncotransformed fibroblasts.