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In a previous study we compared the influence of several growth factors on breast cancer cells in culture and observed that epidermal growth factor (EGF) enhanced the invasiveness of estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer cells. The objective of the present study was to determine the influence of three unique antiestrogens on EGF-mediated movement of human breast cancer cells. The rate of movement of MCF-7 breast cancer cells was measured using time-lapse videomicroscopy (TLVM). The MCF-7 cells were pretreated with antiestrogen (either tamoxifen, ICI-182-780 (ICI) or 1,1-dichloro-cis-2,3-diarylcyclopropane (AII)) at 10–6 mol/l for 4 days, and then treated with EGF (10–10 mol/l) immediately prior to TLVM. EGF enhanced the motility of the MCF-7 cells at 30–90 min post-administration. However, EGF-mediated motility of the MCF-7 cells was inhibited by antiestrogen pretreatment, with TAM and ICI producing complete inhibition of EGF-induced motility. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that EGF enhances the rate of movement of MCF-7 breast cancer cells and that antiestrogen pretreatment inhibits EGF-mediated motility. Copyright © 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growth factors are known to influence the progression, motility and invasiveness of tumor cells. In a previous study, we reported that conditioned media from NIH 3T3 cells (mouse fibroblast), which contains KGF, increased the motile morphology of estrogen receptor (ER)-positive breast cancer cells and produced no effect on ER-negative cells. The present study examined the influence of human KGF on two estrogen receptor (ER)-positive human breast cancer cell lines (MCF-7 and T-47D) using a culture wounding model to evaluate cell proliferation and migration over a period of 48 h. In the present study we observed that KGF enhanced the migration and proliferation of both MCF-7 and T-47D breast cancer cells. In both cell lines the response to KGF was found to be both dose- and time-dependent. However, the total migration and proliferation response of the MCF-7 cells to KGF was much greater than that observed in the T-47D cells. The results of this study demonstrate that human KGF enhances the migration and proliferation of human breast cancer cells. Further, these results support the concept that KGF may be an early signal in the progression of breast cancer to a more motile and metastatic phenotype. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]