Oct-3/4 can up-regulate fibroblast growth factor-4 and matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2), MMP-9, and MMP-13 production, which may contribute to tumor metastasis.
To investigate whether growth, invasion and metastasis of endometrial cancer cells is associated with neovascularization, the expressions of fibroblast growth factor-1 (acidic FGF), -2 (basic FGF) and -4 (hst-1) mRNAs and FGF-2 in endometrial cancers and normal endometria as controls were determined by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction-Southern blot and ELISA, respectively, and the relationships between their expressions and histological grades, grades of myometrial invasion or clinical stages of endometrial cancers were analyzed.
The fibroblast growth factor 4-transfected cells could support growth and metastasis of the beta-galactosidase-expressing parental cell line when both lines were coinjected into the same site in untreated or tamoxifen-treated, ovariectomized mice.
These results suggest that int-2/hst-1 coamplification is a new biological indicator of prognosis and distant organ metastasis in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.
HST-1 and INT-2 genes which is a member of fibroblast growth factor gene family, are amplified in approximately 50% of primary tumors and all the metastatic tumors of esophageal carcinomas.