Summary: | 碩士 === 國立陽明大學 === 解剖學及細胞生物學研究所 === 98 === CD44, a cell surface receptor for hyaluronan, has been implicated in a wide range of physiological functions, including cell migration, cell-cell interaction, cell-extracellular matrix interaction, and homing of lymphocytes to lymphoid tissues. However, the roles of CD44 in tumor cell migration, invasion and metastasis are still unclear. It has been found that the intracellular domain (ICD) of CD44, when translocated into the nucleus, serves as the transcription regulator of downstream target genes. In order to investigate the roles of CD44 ICD in cancer cell migration, we constructed CD44 FL (full-length), and CD44 ICD recombinant expression vectors, then transfected into MCF7 breast cancer cells. The results showed that CD44 overexpression inhibited cell proliferation, but did not induce apoptosis. Functional analysis showed that the migration ability was increased in both CD44 FL and CD44 ICD transfected cells. In compare with CD44 FL transfected cells, CD44 ICD transfected cells showed higher efficiency in cell migration and invasion. We speculated that the region in CD44 leading to significant functional differences locates in the intracellular domain.
|