Cell matrix adhesions and localization of the vitronectin receptor in MCF-7 human mammary carcinoma cells

Interference reflection microscopy (IRM) was used to evaluate the status of cell matrix adhesions in the MCF-7 human mammary carcinoma cell line. Focal contacts were concentrated at the periphery of individual cells or small cell clusters. Close contact was detected as a band at cell peripheries and as localized patches throughout the ventral face of cells. The MCF-7 cells also exhibited a distinctive reflection pattern of an intensity midway between that of either focal or close contact. This novel reflection pattern was located primarily at the periphery of cells and often obscured visualization of focal contacts in live cells. A similar distinctive pattern was absent from the normal tissue-derived MCF-10A mammary epithelial cell line. Immunofluorescence staining using an antiserum that cross-reacts with both alpha(v)beta(3) and alpha(v)beta(5) integrins revealed a distribution of the vitronectin receptor similar to that of the novel adhesion pattern as well as to that of focal contacts. In addition, IRM demonstrated the presence of "tracks" associated with cells, which were also stained with the vitronectin receptor antiserum. The tracks are apparently residual material left behind as a result of cell migration. When MCF-7 cells were cultured in the absence of estradiol, the tracks were greatly diminished when visualized with either IRM or staining for the vitronectin receptor. In contrast, the addition of l7-beta-estradiol to the medium resulted in an increased presence of the tracks as well as the development of extensive close contacts throughout the ventral surface of cells and cell clusters. Cells treated with the estrogen antagonist ICI 182,720 in the presence of estradiol had few associated tracks, indicating that the process leading to the formation of these structures is dependent on an estrogen receptor-activated pathway. However, the antagonist did not prevent the estradiol-induced formation of extensive close contacts. The extensive close contact as well as the increase in trailing material suggests that estradiol may promote breast tumor cell :motility. However, this migratory activity may be mediated by both estrogen receptor-dependent and -independent pathways.