Interleukin-8 promotes human ovarian cancer cell migration by epithelial-mesenchymal transition induction in vitro

It has been well established that high serum levels of interleukin-8 (IL-8) in ovarian cancer result in a poor clinical outcome. Thus, the aim of this study was investigating the role of IL-8 in ovarian cancer development. Two human ovarian cancer cell lines (SKOV3 and OVCAR3) were cocultured with IL-8 (100 ng/L) for 24 h, then cell migration was determined by transwell assay. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)-associated proteins including E-cadherin and beta-catenin, and phosphorylation status of beta-catenin were investigated by Western blot analysis. After treatment with IL-8 (100 ng/L) for 24 h, transwell assay result showed that the number of migrated ovarian cells increased significantly. Western blot analysis revealed that protein levels of E-cadherin were decreased, while that of beta-catenin were elevated both in IL-8 pretreated SKOV3 and OVCAR3 cells. We further found that phosphorylation status of beta-catenin were elevated either in cytoplasm or in nucleus of these two ovarian cancer cell lines after treatment with IL-8 for 24 h. Our data suggest that IL-8 induces EMT in ovarian cancer cells and implicates its potential role in enhancing ovarian cancer cell metastasis.