Loss of lysophosphatidic acid receptor-3 suppresses cell migration activity of human sarcoma cells

Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) interacts with at least six G protein-coupled transmembrane LPA receptors (LPA(1)-LPA(6)). Recently, we have reported that LPA(3) indicated opposite effects on cell migration, depending on the cell types. In the present study, to assess an involvement of LPA(3) on cell migration of sarcoma cells, we generated LPA receptor-3 (LPAR3)-knockdown (HT1080-sh3 and HOS-sh3, respectively) cells from fibrosarcoma HT1080 and osteosarcoma HOS cells, and measured their cell migration abilities. In cell motility assay with a Cell Culture Insert, both LPAR3-knockdown cells showed significantly lower cell motile activities than control cells. Next, to investigate the effect of LPAR3-knockdown on invasion activity, which degraded the extracellular matrices, the Matrigel-coated filter was used. HT1080-sh3 cells showed significantly low invasive activity compared with control cells, while no invasive activity was found in HOS-sh3 cells. In gelatin zymography, no significant difference of matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 activities were detected in all cells. The results indicated that LPA(3) acts as a positive regulator of cell motility and invasion in sarcoma cells, suggesting that LPA signaling pathway via LPA(3) may be involved in the progression of sarcoma cells.