Dysregulation of the TGF-β postreceptor signaling pathway in cell lines derived from primary or metastatic ovarian cancer

Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) may cause cell cycle arrest, terminal differentiation, or apoptosis in most normal epithelial cells, whereas most malignant cell lines are resistant to TGF-β. Mechanisms of resistance to TGF-β caused by modulation of cell cycle regulators and/or inactivation of components of the TGF-β signaling transduction pathway such as C-myc and Smad4 are not well understood. To investigate the potential association between loss of sensitivity to TGF-β and expression status of transforming growth factor receptor II (TβR II), Smad4, CDC25A and C-myc in 14 cell lines derived from ovarian cancer, the expression levels of these genes were detected by semi-quantitative RT-PCR. Normal ovarian surface tissues were used as controls. The expression of TβR II was detectable in all of 14 cell lines. The expression of Smad4 was decreased in 10 cell lines and 9 cell lines overexpressed CDC25A, as compared to normal controls. CDC25A gene was overexpressed with 88% (8/9) in tumorigenic cell lines as determined by xenografts in nude mice, and only in 20% (1/5) of non-tumorigenic cell lines (P<0.05). C-myc was not overexpressed in any of these cell lines. The loss of sensitivity to TGF-β of cell lines derived from ovarian cancers may be related to a decreased expression of Smad4, which mediates TGF-β induced growth inhibition, and/or an overexpression of CDC25A. This overexpression of CDC25A correlates with increased tumorigenicity of ovarian cancer cell lines. The loss of sensitivity to TGF-β is not associated with a lack of TβR II.