The novel monoclonal antibody MH8-4 inhibiting cell motility recognizes integrin alpha 3: inverse of its expression withmetastases in colon cancer.

The molecular basis of cell motility is obviously highly complex and is considered to be controlled by a number of molecular systems including cell adhesion molecules, their receptors, cytoskeletal components, a junctional unit connecting cytoskeletal components and membrane receptors, and various peptide growth factors. The possible involvement of proteins at the cell surface in controlling cell motility has been systematically investigated. Previously, we have addressed this question using functional monoclonal antibodies (MAbs), which inhibit cell motility as probes. In order to further identify cell surface molecules involved in metastasis of gastrointestinal tumors, the present study utilized an approach based on the selection of a colon cancer cell line RPMI4788, which showed high motility out of a large number of human gastrointestinal tumor cell lines. MAb MH8-4 was established after immunization of mice with RPMI4788 and selected on the basis of inhibition of RPMI4788 cell migration in a transwell penetration assay. MH8-4 inhibited the phagokinetic tract motility of various cancer cell lines. A cDNA cloning revealed that MH8-4 recognized a specific protein structure, integrin alpha 3. In order to determine whether these experimental results are of relevance with respect to actual human gastrointestinal tumors, we investigated integrin alpha 3 expression in 40 colon cancers with distant metastases. Our immunohistochemical study showed that in almost 27.5% of the cases, the metastatic tumors had lower integrin alpha 3 levels than their corresponding primary tumors. Moreover, there were no primary tumors with lower integrin alpha 3 expression than their corresponding metastatic tumors. Our data suggest that low integrin alpha 3 expression may be associated with the metastatic potential of certain colon cancers.