Overexpression of the thrombospondin 2 (TSP2) gene modulated by the matrix metalloproteinase family expression and production in human colon carcinoma cell line.

Thrombospondin 2 (TSP2) is an extracellular matrix glycoprotein involved in tumor progression and angiogenesis. We evaluated whether overexpression of the TSP2 gene show an alteration of various genes by cDNA arrays in the colon carcinoma cell line SW480. The transformants with the human TSP2 gene overexpression showed a down-regulation of matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP2) and MMP9 in comparison to those with vector-control. Protein production of MMP2 and MMP9 decreased in the transformants overexpressing the TSP2 gene. Conversely, the SW480 transformants showed up-regulation of MMP12 and MMP17. These results suggested that the TSP2 gene is a multifunctional modulator of remodeling tissue in which matrix degradation is required.