Objective: To investigate the effects of Toll like receptor (TLR) signaling activation on the malignant biological behavior of gastric cancer cell lines.
Methods: RT-PCR was employed to detect the basal expression of TLRs in the gastric cancer cell lines. According to the basal RNA expression, the proteic expression of TLR4 of the cell lines was examined using Western blot analysis. BGC823 and AGS cell lines were chosen for investigating the effects of TLR4 signaling activation on the biological behavior due to the high level of TLR4 proteic expression.
Results: TLR4 RNA expression was higher than any other TLRs in the gastric cancer cell lines. Higher relative proteic expression of TLR4 was observed in BGC823 (1. 41 ± 0. 05) and AGS (1. 22 ± 0. 05) (all P <0. 05). Activation of the TLR4 signaling pathway by LPS increased proliferation, migration and invasion of BGC823 and AGS cell lines (all P < 0. 05).
Conclusion: TLR4 may participate in the metastasis of gastric cancer through promotes the malignant biological behavior of gastric cancer cell, and may be a potential therapeutic target.