The effect of transient over-expression of LMP1 on the migration of human nasopharyngeal carcinoma CNE2 cells

Objective: To investigate the effect of transient over-expression of latent membrane protein 1 (LMP1) on the migration of human nasopharyngeal carcinoma CNE2 cells and its possible mechanism. Methods: The recombination eukaryotic expression plasmid pEGFP-C1-LMP1 was successfully constructed, and it was transiently transfected into nasopharyngeal carcinoma CNE2 cells. After pEGFP-C1-LMP1 was transfected into CNE2 cells, the location of LMP1 was observed under a laser confocal microscope, and the abilities of migration and invasion of CNE2 cells were analyzed by Transwell assay, then the expression levels of LMP1 and Ras-related C3 botulinum toxin substrate 1 (Rac1) mRNAs and proteins were examined by real-time fluorescence quantitative-PCR and Western blotting, respectively. Results: After pEGFP-C1-LMP1 was successfully transfected into CNE2 cells, LMP1 could be obtained mainly in cell membrane and part of the cytoplasm of CNE2 cells. The capacities of migration and invasion of CNE2 cells transfected with pEGFP-C1-LMP1 were weaker than those of the CNE2 cells transfected with empty vector (as a control) (P < 0.05). The expression levels of LMP1 mRNA and protein in CNE2 cells transfected with pEGFP-C1-LMP1 were higher than those of the control (P < 0.01), whereas the expression levels of Rac1 mRNA and protein were just the opposite (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The transient over-expression of LMP1 can inhibit the migration of nasopharyngeal carcinoma CNE2 cells. This effect may be related to the down-regulation of Rac1 expression. DOI:10.3781/j.issn.1000-7431.2014.08.004