These results suggested that, in cases of oral SCC, the paracrine SDF-1/CXCR4 system potentiates lymph node metastasis, but distant metastasis might require the autocrine SDF-1/CXCR4 system.
Recombinant SDF-1alpha stimulated in vitro invasiveness and scattering in CXCR4-expressing oral SCC cells, but the treatment did not affect the expression of matrix metalloproteinases or urokinase-type plasminogen activator.
In order to further clarify the role of the SDF-1/CXCR4 system in oral SCC, we generated CXCR4 stable transfectants (IH-CXCR4) using oral SCC cells, and compared them to IH, which did not express CXCR4 and which did not have lymph node metastatic potentials in vivo.