Abstract

Fibrosarcoma is a malignant disorder of fibroblasts and extremely metastatic cancer. Angiogenesis plays an important role in metastasis. Several factors including matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) involve in angiogenesis. MMPs are a large group of endopeptidases which degredate the extracellular matrix. The present study was conducted to evaluate the patterns of MMP-2/MMP-9 activity in Wehi-164 cells in vitro. Wehi-164 cells were cultured in complete RPMI-1640 medium. Then the cells were seeded at a density of 4 ×10⁵ cells/ml andwere incubated with phorbol myristate acetate (PMA) (25 ng/ml) or phytohaemagglutinin (PHA) (10 µg/ml) for 24, 48 and 72 h. The MMP-2/MMP-9 activity in cell-conditioned media was then evaluated by gelatin zymography. PHA/PMA significantly increased MMP-2 activity in Wehi-164 cells in a time-dependent manner. MMP-9 activity was shown in unstimulated Wehi-164 time-dependently. PHA did not show any significant effect on MMP-9 activity whereas PMA induced MMP-9 activity in Wehi-164, which increased time dependently. According to the result of the present study, Wehi 164 fibrosarcoma cells could potentially exhibit MMP-2/MMP-9 activity. However, the patterns of MMP-2/MMP-9 activity, varies according to the presence or absence of stimulator as well as duration of incubation time. Thus, Wehi 164 cell line could be a useful screening tool for of MMPs modulators. 

Key words: Fibrosarcoma, cell lines, matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9).