A fine balance between CCNL1 and TIMP1 contributes to the development of breast cancer cells

► First found the simultaneous elevated expression level of CCNL1 and TIMP1 in breast cancer versus peri-breast cancer tissues. ► Showed inhibitory effect of CCNL1 and promotion effect of TIMP1 on growth of MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells. ► Co-expression or co-repression of CCNL1 and TIMP1 did not affect cell growth. ► Overexpression of CCNL1 induced overexpression of TIMP1, and vice versa. ► First showed a fine balance between CCNL1 and TIMP1, which may play important roles in breast cancer development. Cyclin L1 (CCNL1) and tissue inhibitor of matrix metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP1) are candidate genes involved in several types of cancer. However, the expression of CCNL1 and the relationship between CCNL1 and TIMP1 in breast cancer cells is unknown. Using patients’ breast cancer tissues, the expression of CCNL1 and TIMP1 was measured by cDNA microarray and further confirmed by real-time RT-PCR and western blotting. Overexpression or repression of CCNL1 and TIMP1, individually or together, was performed in breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells by transient transformation methods to investigate their role in breast cancer cell growth. Simultaneously, mRNA and protein expression levels of CCNL1 and TIMP1 were also measured. CCNL1 and TIMP1 expression was significantly elevated in breast cancer tissues compared with that in peri-breast cancer tissues of patients by cDNA microarray and these results were further confirmed by real-time RT-PCR and western blotting. Interestingly, in vitro experiments showed a stimulatory effect of TIMP1 and an inhibitory effect of CCNL1 on growth of MDA-MB-231 cells. Co-expression or co-repression of these two genes did not affect cell growth. Overexpression of CCNL1 and TIMP1 individually induced overexpression of each other. These data demonstrate that there is a fine balance between CCNL1 and TIMP1, which may contribute to breast cancer development.