Fascin promotes the motility and invasiveness of pancreatic cancer cells

AIM: To explore the role of actin-bundling protein, fascin during the progression of pancreatic cancer. METHODS: The plasmid expressing human fascin-1 was stably transfected into the pancreatic cancer cell line MIA PaCa-2. The proliferation, cell cycle, motility, scattering, invasiveness and organization of the actin filament system in fascin-transfected MIA PaCa-2 cells and control non-transfected cells were determined. RESULTS: Heterogeneous overexpression of fascin markedly enhanced the motility, scattering, and invasiveness of MIA PaCa-2 cells. However, overexpression of fascin had minimal effect on MIA PaCa-2 cell proliferation and cell cycle. In addition, cell morphology and organization of the actin filament system were distinctly altered in fascin overexpressed cells. When transplanted into BALB/c-nu mice, fascin-transfected pancreatic cancer cells developed solid tumors at a slightly slower rate, but these tumors displayed more aggressive behavior in comparison with control tumors. CONCLUSION: Fascin promotes pancreatic cancer cell migration, invasion and scattering, thus contributes to the aggressive behavior of pancreatic cancer cells.