Abstract
Gender differences in terms of mortality among many solid organ malignancies have been proved by epidemiological data. Estrogen has been suspected to cast a protective effect against cancer because of the lower mortality of gastric cancer in females and the benefits of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in gastric cancer. Hence, it suggests that 17β-estradiol (E2) may affect the behavior of cancer cells. One of the key features of cancer-related mortality is metastasis. Accumulating evidences suggest that human bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (HBMMSCs) and its secreted CCL-5 have a role in enhancing the metastatic potential of breast cancer cells. However, it is not clear whether E2 would affect HBMMSCs-induced mobility in gastric cancer cells. In this report, we show that CCL-5 secreted by HBMMSCs enhanced mobility in human AGS gastric cancer cells via activation of Src/Cas/Paxillin signaling pathway. Treatment with specific neutralizing antibody of CCL-5 significantly inhibited HBMMSCs-enhanced mobility in human AGS gastric cancer cells. We further observe that 17β-estradiol suppressed HBMMSCs-enhanced mobility by down-regulating CCL5-Src/Cas/paxillin signaling pathway in AGS cells. Collectively, these results suggest that 17β-estradiol treatment significantly inhibits HBMMSCS-induced mobility in human AGS gastric cancer cells.