Suppression of metastasis by tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 in a newly established human oral squamous cell carcinoma cell line.

We have established a highly-metastatic cell line (designated as HNOS) and a non-metastatic cell line (designated as SAT) derived from human oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Both lines were transplantable in nude mice. The invasive activity through Matrigel-coated membrane of HNOS cells was also higher than that of SAT cells. mRNA of TIMP-1 was expressed in SAT cells but not in HNOS cells. Metastatic and invasive abilities were suppressed by the overexpression of TIMP-1 in HNOS cells. These results suggest that TIMP-1 may have an important role in inhibiting invasion and metastasis of human oral cavity SCC.