Expression of flTF and asTF splice variants in various cell strains and tissues

Tissue factor (TF) expressed at the protein level includes two isoforms: The membrane-bound full-length TF (flTF) and the soluble alternatively spliced TF (asTF). flTF is the major thrombogenic form of TF, whereas asTF is more closely associated with tumor growth, angiogenesis, metastasis and cell growth. In order to further investigate the different expression and functions of TF splice variants, the expression of these two splice variants were detected in numerous cell strains and tissues in the present study. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to measure the transcript levels of the TF variants in 11 human cell lines, including cervical cancer, breast cancer, hepatoblastoma, colorectal cancer and umbilical vein cells, and five types of tissue specimen, including placenta, esophageal cancer, breast cancer, cervical cancer (alongside normal cervical tissues) and non-small cell lung cancer (alongside adjacent and normal tissues). Furthermore, the effects of chenodeoxycholic acid (CDCA) and apolipoprotein M (apoM) on the two variants were investigated. The results demonstrated that flTF was the major form of TF, and the mRNA expression levels of flTF were higher than those of asTF in all specimens tested. CDCA significantly upregulated the mRNA expression levels of the two variants. Furthermore, overexpression of apoM promoted the expression levels of asTF in Caco-2 cells. The mRNA expression levels of asTF in cervical cancer tissues were significantly higher than in the corresponding normal tissues. To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first to compare the expression of flTF and asTF in various samples. The results demonstrated that CDCA and apoM may modulate TF isoforms in different cell lines, and suggested that asTF may serve a role in the pathophysiological mechanism underlying cervical cancer development. In conclusion, the TF isoforms serve important and distinct roles in pathophysiological processes.