Regular Article

British Journal of Cancer (1999) 79, 1651–1656. doi:10.1038/sj.bjc.6690264 www.bjcancer.com
Published online 12 March 1999

Overexpression of Bcl-2 enhances metastatic potential of human bladder cancer cells

H Miyake1, I Hara1, K Yamanaka1, K Gohji1, S Arakawa1 and S Kamidono1

1Department of Urology, Kobe University School of Medicine, 7-5-1 Kusunoki-cho, Chuo-ku, Kobe, 650, Japan

Correspondence: H Miyake, Department of Cancer Endocrinology, British Columbia Cancer Agency, 600 West 10th Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia, V5Z 4E6 Canada

Received 22 April 1998; Revised 4 August 1998; Accepted 22 September 1998.

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Abstract

We investigated the effect of Bcl-2 expression on the metastatic process of bladder cancer cells by using the Bcl-2-transfected human bladder cancer cell lines (KoTCC-1/BH) and the control vector only-transfected cell line (KoTCC-1/C), which were generated in our previous study (Miyake et al (1998) Oncogene: 933–934). When they were injected intravenously into athymic nude mice, KoTCC-1/BH formed more than three times as many tumour nodules in the lungs as did KoTCC-1/C. In addition, tumour progression, including lymph node metastasis and haemorrhagic ascites, was observed to be more advanced after the implantation of KoTCC-1/BH cells into the bladder wall of nude mice than after implantation of KoTCC-1/C cells. These enhanced malignant progression of KoTCC-1/BH cells were well correlated with anti-apoptotic activity under anchorage-independent conditions in in vitro experimental models. In contrast, there were no significant differences among these cell lines in their growth rates both in vitro and in vivo, invasive ability and cell motility. These findings suggest that, if it is overexpressed, Bcl-2 prolongs cell survival under unfavourable conditions encountered in the metastatic process, resulting in the enhanced metastatic potential of bladder cancer.

Keywords:

Bcl-2, metastasis, apoptosis, bladder cancer

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