The relative expression of focal adhesion proteins in decellularized lung tissue-colonising cell line compared to MDA-MB-231 cell line

Abstract

Breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in women globally. Most deaths and the low survival rates are due to poor prognosis and limited therapy options associated with breast cancer metastases to the brain, lungs, and bones. In this study, we sought to compare six focal adhesion proteins (integrin 1, vinculin, kindlin-2, wave-2, PTEN, FAK) in breast cancer (MDA-MB-231) and decellularized lung tissue (d-lung pop 7A1)-colonising cell lines to investigate what changes at the level of focal adhesion proteins were necessary for MDA to colonise decellularized lung tissue. We used the Bradford assay for protein quantification, gel electrophoresis for protein separation, and finally western blotting and image analysis for comparison of protein levels. Results showed that, compared to the MDA-MB-231 cell line, the d-lung pop7A1 cell line had less integrin 1 (p-value = 0.62), vinculin (p-value = 0.44), kindlin-2 (p-value = 0.33), PTEN (p-value = 0.02), and focal-adhesion kinase (p-value = 0.07) and more WAVE-2 (p-value = 0.23). PTEN is the only focal adhesion protein that is currently studied with significant change in d.-lung pop 7A1 cell line, suggesting that the metastatic nature of this cell line was exclusively acquired through decreased PTEN. The current results showed that the decellularized lung-colonising cancerous cells are less metastatic than expected, presumably, due to the fact that they have already established the metastatic tumour and are now thriving in the tissue rather than moving toward it.