Increased cell motility and invasion upon knockdown of lipolysis stimulated lipoprotein receptor (LSR) in SW780 bladder cancer cells

Background: Mechanisms underlying the malignant development in bladder cancer are still not well understood. Lipolysis stimulated lipoprotein receptor (LSR) has previously been found to be upregulated by P53. Furthermore, we have previously found LSR to be differentially expressed in bladder cancer. Here we investigated the role of LSR in bladder cancer. Methods: A time course siRNA knock down experiment was performed to investigate the functional role of LSR in SW780 bladder cancer cells. Since LSR was previously shown to be regulated by P53, siRNA against TP53 was included in the experimental setup. We used Affymetrix GeneChips for measuring gene expression changes and we used Ingenuity Pathway Analysis to investigate the relationship among differentially expressed genes upon siRNA knockdown. Results: By Ingenuity Pathway analysis of the microarray data from the different timepoints we identified six gene networks containing genes mainly related to the functional categories cancer, cell death, and cellular movement. We determined that genes annotated to the functional category cellular movement including invasion and cell motility were highly significantly overrepresented. A matrigel assay showed that 24 h after transfection the invasion capacity was significantly increased 3-fold (p < 0.02) in LSR-siRNA transfected cells, and 2.7-fold (p < 0.02) in TP53-siRNA transfected cells compared to controls. After 48 h the motility capacity was significantly increased 3.5-fold (p < 0.004) in LSR-siRNA transfected cells, and 4.7-fold (p < 0.002) in TP53-siRNA transfected cells compared to controls. Conclusion: We conclude that LSR may impair bladder cancer cells from gaining invasive properties.