Expression of interleukin-8 in human metastatic endometrial carcinoma cells and its regulation by inflammatory cytokines

In the present study, we analyzed the expression of a multifunctional cytokine, interleukin-8 (IL-8), in metastatic endometrial carcinoma cells. Our data demonstrate that human serous papillary endometrial adenocarcinoma (SPEC) and human endometrial adenocarcinoma (HEC) cells expressed steady-state IL-8-specific mRNA transcript and secreted IL-8 protein. The levels of IL-8 mRNA in SPEC-2 cells established from stage IV serous papillary adenocarcinoma were three-fold higher as compared to endometrial adenocarcinoma cells, HEC-1 A, established from stage IA endometrial cancer. Further, we observed higher levels of IL-8 mRNA and protein expression in the metastatic variants of SPEC-2 and HEC-1A cells as compared to the parent cell lines, demonstrating that IL-8 expression was associated with metastatic potential. Further, the treatment of endometrial carcinoma cells with inflammatory cytokines, IL-1β and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), demonstrated that IL-1β and TNF-α induced IL-8 expression in endometrial cancer cells. IL-1β was a more potent inducer of IL-8 expression than TNF-α in our studies. These data demonstrate that constitutive and induced IL-8 expression in endometrial carcinoma cells might be an important regulatory mechanism of tumor growth and metastasis.