Primary research

Type I collagen gene suppresses tumor growth and invasion of malignant human glioma cells

Kimi Honma^1,2 , Teruo Miyata² and Takahiro Ochiya¹

¹Section for Studies on Metastasis, National Cancer Center Research Institute, Tokyo, Japan

²Koken Bioscience Institute, Koken Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan

author email corresponding author email

Cancer Cell International 2007, 7:12doi:10.1186/1475-2867-7-12

Published:	20 June 2007

Abstract

Background

Invasion is a hallmark of a malignant tumor, such as a glioma, and the progression is followed by the interaction of tumor cells with an extracellular matrix (ECM). This study examined the role of type I collagen in the invasion of the malignant human glioma cell line T98G by the introduction of the human collagen type I α1 (HCOL1A1) gene.

Results

The cells overexpressing HCOL1A1 were in a cluster, whereas the control cells were scattered. Overexpression of HCOL1A1 significantly suppressed the motility and invasion of the tumor cells. The glioma cell growth was markedly inhibited in vitro and in vivo by the overexpression of HCOL1A1; in particular, tumorigenicity completely regressed in nude mice. Furthermore, the HCOL1A1 gene induced apoptosis in glioma cells.

Conclusion

These results indicate that HCOL1A1 have a suppressive biological function in glioma progression and that the introduction of HCOL1A1 provides the basis of a novel therapeutic approach for the treatment of malignant human glioma.