Objective To over-express human trefoil factor 2 (hTFF2) by Escherichia coli system and an-alyze its activities in promoting migration and anchorage-independent growth in SW480 colonic cancer cells. Meth-ods hTFF2 gene encoding mature peptide was obtained by RT-PCR, and the recombinant expression vector pET32a-hTFF2 was constructed. Then pET32a-hTFF2 was transformed into E. coli BL21-32a and TrxA-hTFF2 fu-sion protein was induced to over-express. The expressed product was isolated by Ni-NTA affinity chromatography, purified by dialysis and identified by Western blotting. The activities of the recombinant hTFF2 in promoting SW480 cells migration and anchorage-independent growth were analyzed by MicroChemotaxis Chamber migration assay and Soft-agar assay,respectively. Results The TrxA-hTFF2 fusion protein was expressed to 220 mg/L at high purity. In vitro model demonstrated that recombinant hTFF2 obviously enhanced SW480 cell migration activity and anchor-age-independent growth. Conclusion The recombinant hTFF2 can be expressed in E. coli with high production, purity and biological activities. And its roles in cell migration and anchorage-independent growth suggest that up-regulation of TFF2 in colonic cancer might be involved in cancer invasion and metastases.

Paclitaxel is a microtubule-targeting agent widely used for the treatment of many solid tumors. However, patients show variable sensitivity to this drug, and effective diagnostic tests predicting drug sensitivity remain to be investigated. Herein, we show that the expression of end-binding protein 1 (EB1), a regulator of microtubule dynamics involved in multiple cellular activities, in breast tumor tissues correlates with the pathological response of tumors to paclitaxel-based chemotherapy. In vitro cell proliferation assays reveal that EB1 stimulates paclitaxel sensitivity in breast cancer cell lines. Our data further demonstrate that EB1 increases the activity of paclitaxel to cause mitotic arrest and apoptosis in cancer cells. In addition, microtubule binding affinity analysis and polymerization/depolymerization assays show that EB1 enhances paclitaxel binding to microtubules and stimulates the ability of paclitaxel to promote microtubule assembly and stabilization. These findings thus reveal EB1 as a critical regulator of paclitaxel sensitivity and have important implications in breast cancer chemotherapy.
Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; Apoptosis ; drug effects ; Breast Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; metabolism ; pathology ; Cell Cycle Checkpoints ; drug effects ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Female ; Humans ; MCF-7 Cells ; Microtubule-Associated Proteins ; antagonists & inhibitors ; genetics ; metabolism ; Microtubules ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Paclitaxel ; pharmacology ; therapeutic use ; RNA Interference ; RNA, Small Interfering ; metabolism

Adenomatous Polyposis Coli Protein ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Amino Acid Sequence ; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid ; HeLa Cells ; Humans ; Kinesin ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Microtubule-Associated Proteins ; chemistry ; metabolism ; Microtubules ; metabolism ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Phosphopeptides ; analysis ; Phosphorylation ; Protein Multimerization ; Tandem Mass Spectrometry