The Role of the Cytokine CSF-1 in Ovarian Tumor Cell Motility

Abstract

Ovarian cancer is a leading cause of death in women because it?s late presentation and aggressive metastasis result in a poor prognosis. The CSF-1 ligand and its receptor cfms have been linked to the motility and invasion of cells in both normal and cancerous environments. The purpose of this study is to understand the role that CSF-1 plays in mediating motility in ovarian cancer cells. CSF-1 was knocked-down in Hey and SKOV3 ovarian cancer lines by the transfection of anti-CSF-1 shRNA. A transwell migration assay was then used to visualize and quantify changes in cell motility. Both cell lines showed a drastic decrease in cell motility as compared to empty vector or scramble vector controls as well as untransfected cells. This data suggests that CSF-1 plays a role in tumor cell motility. Motility is the first step that a cell must take as it metastasizes. If motility and subsequently invasion could be halted, metastasis of ovarian tumor cells to secondary sites could be slowed or stopped. Further investigation of CSF-1 is necessary and important in understanding the mechanism by which cells move. Such knowledge may lead to CSF-1 being an attractive translational, therapeutic target in the treatment of ovarian cancer.