Experimental study of tissue factor pathway inhibitor-2 expression inhibiting the invasive potential of human ovarian tumor cells

Objective Human tissue factor pathway inhibitor-2 (TFPI-2) is a new serine protease inhibitor, which inhibits plas min, trypsin, matrix metalloproteinase (MMPs), rather than urokinase, tissue-type plasminogen activators and thrombin. Previous studies have shown that the production of TFPI-2 is downregulated during the invasion and metastasis of various cancers. The aim of this study was to explore the role of TFPI-2 expression in ovarian tumor invasion in vitro and in vivo. Methods Human TFPI-2 expression vector pBos-Cite-neo/TFPI-2 was transfected into ovarian tumor cells line A2780. After the transfected cells were selected by G418, transfected and nontransfected cells were screened for TFPI-2 mRNA and protein by reverse tran scription-polymerase chain reaction and western blot analysis, respectively. The number of transfected or nontransfected cells passing through membrane of Boyden chamber was counted as the basis assessing tumors cells invasive behaviors in vitro; the extent of invasion in vivo were evaluated by the subcutaneous injection of ovarian tumor cells to nude mice and followed by the pathological examination. Results Expression of mRNA and protein of TFPI-2 were confirmed in transfected cells. The number of TFPI-2-expiessing cells to traverse a Matrigel-coated membrane was obviously decreased compared with that of nonexpressing cells (59. 3±6. 5 vs 109. 7±5. 5, P0. 01) ;and the extent of the invasion into the nude mice was significantly reduced. Conclusion TFPI-2 expression may obviously inhibit the invasion ability of ovarian tumor cells in vitro and in vivo , this provides an experimental basis for curing human ovarian tumor with gene-therapy.