Expression of TIMP-3 gene by construction of a eukaryotic cell expression vector and its role in reduction of metastasis in a human breast cancer cell line.

The present study is aimed at studying the gene for TIMP-3, a mammalian tissue inhibitor, by constructing a recombinant eukaryotic cell vector for gene therapy in human breast cancer. We obtained the TIMP-3 gene from the human placent by RT-PCR. TIMP-3 gene was subcloned into pcDNA3.1 vetor from pMD18T vector by means of gene cloning to construct pcDNA3.1 recombinant vector. Human breast cancer cell line MDA-MB-453 was transfected with pcDNA3.1-TIMP3 recombinant vector using lipofectamine reagent. Then the expression of TIMP-3 and the effect on the metastasis of MDA-MB-453 were examined. The correct construction of pcDNA-TIMP3 was identified by means of restriction enzyme analysis, PCR amplication and nucleotide sequencing. Western blotting showed that the transfected cells were able to express TIMP-3, indicating that our construction of the pcDNA-TIMP3 eukaryotic expression vector was constructed successfully. Our experiments further indicated that the potential of metastasis was significantly reduced for the transfected cell line MDA-MB-453.