Aim: To study the inhibitory effect of anti-Lewis y monoclonal antibody on proliferation, adhesion and invasion of alpha1, 2-fucosyltransferase gene transfected human ovarian cancer cell line RMG-I-H with over-expression of Lewis y antigen in vitro.
Methods: The changes of proliferation, adhesion and invasion of RMG-I-H cells in vitro were detected by cell growth assay, cell adhesive assay and cell invasive assay, respectively, with goat anti-human IgG antibody treated group or non-antibody treated group as control.
Results: The proliferation and adhesion of RMG-I-H cells were remarkably inhibited by preincubation of the tumor cells with anti-Lewis y antibody in vitro (P<0.05). The growth inhibitory rate from the second day to the seventh day was 5.62%, 19.75%, 34.96%, 46.51%, 49.78% and 33.33%, respectively. The adhesion inhibitory rate at different time points (15, 30, 60 min) was 47.59%, 58.64% and 13.85%, respectively. Invasive assay with a transwell cell culture chamber showed that there were no significant differences of invasion in vitro between each concentration of the Lewis y antibody treated group and non-antibody treated group (P>0.05).
Conclusion: Anti-Lewis y antibody significantly inhibits the proliferation and adhesion of RMG-I-H cells cultured in vitro, but it has no effect on invasion, which indicates that Lewis y is associated with some biological behaviors, such as proliferation and adhesion. The antibody against Lewis y may be an effective anti-metastasis agent for the treatment of patients with ovarian cancer.