ARTICLES Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Signaling and the Invasive Phenotype of Ovarian Carcinoma Cells

Background:Most (70%–100%) ovarian carcinomas express high levels of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR). To examine the relationship between EGFR and the invasive phenotype, we assessed integrin expression, adhesion, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) activity, and migration in ovarian cancer cells in which EGFR expression was modified. Meth-ods: NIH:OVCAR-8 human ovarian carcinoma cells were transfected with an expression vector containing the human EGFR complementary DNA in an antisense orientation (EGFR-antisense cells) or the vector alone (vector control cells). We compared vector control and EGFR-antisense cells for cell morphology and adhesion by light microscopy, expression of 6- and 3-integrin subunits by flow cytom-etry, MMP and tissue inhibitor of MMP (TIMP) activity by zymography, and migration by a wound migration assay. I