Study of knowledge, perception and attitude of adolescent girls towards STIs/HIV, safer sex and sex education: (a cross sectional survey of urban adolescent school girls in South Delhi, India)
McManus, A.; Dhar, L.
Bmc Women's Health 8: 12
2008
ISSN/ISBN: 1472-6874 PMID: 18647417 DOI: 10.1186/1472-6874-8-12Document Number: 263573
Heparanase is an endoglycosidase that degrades heparan sulfate, the main polysaccharide constituent of the extracellular matrix (ECM) and basement membrane. Expression of the heparanase gene is associated with the invasion and metastatic potential of a variety of tumor-derived cell types. However, the roles of heparanase in the regulation of gene expression and the subsequent cell function changes other than invasion are not clear. In the current study, we overexpressed the human heparanase gene in a human U251n glioma cell line. We found that heparanase-overexpression significantly increased cell invasion, proliferation, anchorage-independent colony formation and chemotactic migration towards fetal bovine serum (FBS)-supplied medium and stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1). These phenotypic appearances were accompanied by enhanced protein kinase B (AKT) phosphorylation. Focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1 (ERK1) signaling were not altered by heparanase-overexpression. These results indicate that heparanase has pleiotropic effects on tumor cells.