Open Access

ARTICLE

Adhesive Force of Human Hepatoma HepG2 Cells to Endothelial Cells and Expression of E-Selectin

Guanbin Song^∗,†, Toshiro Ohashi^†, Naoya Sakamoto^†, Masaaki Sato^†

∗ Corresponding author. College of Bioengineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, P. R. China. Email: song@cqu.edu.cn
† Department of Bioengineering and Robotics, Graduate School of Engineering, Tohoku University, Sendai 980-8579, Japan

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics 2006, 3(2), 61-68. https://doi.org/10.3970/mcb.2006.003.061

Abstract

Expression of adhesion molecules may play an important role in the interaction of tumor cells with vascular endothelial cells during tumor invasion and metastasis. In this study, the adhesive force of human hepatoma HepG2 cells to human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) was investigated using a micropipette aspiration technique. Expression of an adhesion molecule, E-selectin, was also observed by immunofluorescence microscopy. In particular, the adhesive force after stimulation of HUVECs with recombinant human interleukin-1β (rhIL-1β) was examined. The results demonstrated that the adhesive force of HepG2 cells to stimulated HUVECs is significantly higher than that of unstimulated control cells, and that immunofluorescence of E-selectin in stimulated HUVECs showed a higher fluorescent intensity compared to control cells. Moreover, addition of monoclonal anti-human E-selectin decreased the adhesive force of HepG2 cells to stimulated HUVECs by 50%. These results suggest that endothelial E-selectin may be a main mediator of carcinoma metastasis of malignant tumor through blood circulation, possibly increasing the adhesive force of human hepatoma HepG2 cells to HUVECs in the early stage of metastases.

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