Analysis of Chemokine Receptor Gene Expression in Esophageal Cancer Cells Compared with Breast Cancer with Insights into Metastasis

BACKGROUND Chemokine receptors have been shown to play an important role in the development and metastatic spread of various malignancies. In this study, the gene expression profile of some key chemokine receptors involved in metastasis has been investigated in esophageal and breast cancer cell lines. METHODS In a descriptive study, gene expression profile of CCR1, CCR6, CCR7, CCR9, CXCR1, and CXCR4 in human esophageal cancer cell line (KYSE-30) and human breast cancer cell line (MCF7) were analyzed using real-time PCR and their results were compared accordingly. RESULTS We demonstrated for the first time the expression of CCR1, CCR6, CCR7, CCR9, CXCR1, and CXCR4 at transcriptional level in human esophageal cancer cell line. The expression of CCR1, CCR7 and CXCR4 were lower in esophageal compared with breast cancer cells, although without significant difference. CCR9 was highly expressed in esophageal cancer cells as compared to the breast cancer cells (P < 0.05). Similarly, the expression of CCR6 and CXCR1 were higher, although without significant difference. CONCLUSION Esophageal cancer cells like breast cancer express some key chemokine receptors involved in metastasis. Targeting of proposed receptors in esophageal cancer may be a novel strategy for prevention of cancer metastasis.