Tetra-amidines exhibiting anti-proteinase activity: effects on oriented migration and in vitro invasiveness of a Chinese Hamster cell line transfected with the activated human T24-Ha-ras-1 oncogene

In the present paper we have investigated the effects of aromatic tetra-amidines on attachment, oriented migration and in vitro invasiveness of the Chinese Hamster FH06T1-1 fibroblast lung cell line, transformed with the activated human T24-Ha-ras-1 oncogene. The FH06T1-1 cell line is tumorigenic in nude mice and displays growth properties and biological features clearly distinct from those of the FH06N1-1 cell line, obtained after transfection of the same fibroblast cells with the normal Ha-ras-1 proto-oncogene. Attachment, oriented migration and invasiveness were analysed by culturing the cells on a reconstituted extracellular matrix, composed of collagen IV, laminin, entactin and heparan sulphate proteoglycans. The results obtained demonstrate that oriented migration is performed only by FH06T1-1 cells and that tetra-benzamidines are effective inhibitors of oriented migration and “in vitro” invasiveness of these tumorigenic cells. These findings should encourage further studies on the possible antimetastatic effects of these antiproteinase tetra-benzamidines on experimental animals.