Autocrine motility factor receptor gene expression and cell motility in lung cancer cell lines.

The cell motility of tumor cells is an integral component of tumor invasion and metastasis. Autocrine motility factor (AMF) stimulates cell motility via a receptor (R)-mediated signal pathway. We studied the correlation between level of AMF-R gene expression by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and cell motility by phagokinetic track assay with or without AMF in lung cancer cell lines. Lung cancer cell lines with higher AMF-R gene expression tended to have greater cell motility than those with lower AMF-R gene expression with or without AMF. Most of lung cancer cell lines showed significantly increased motility with the stimulation of AMF. We conclude that the presence of higher AMF-R gene expression and tumor cell motility via receptor in response to the stimulation of AMF could be an important aspect in the invasion and metastasis of lung cancer cell lines.