Regulation of chemokine receptor CXCR4 in HepG2 cell adhesion sensing by QCM

Cell adhesion is implicated in a number of biological pathways such as angiogenesis, arteriosclerosis, chronic inflammatory diseases, and carcinogenesis. Chemokine receptor CXCR4 is often found aberrantly expressed on metastatic tumor cells. To investigate CXCR4 signaling in tumor cell adhesion, we stably overexpressed CXCR4 in hepatocellular carcinoma HepG2 cells. Regulation of CXCR4 in HepG2 cell adhesion was in-situ investigated using a quartz crystal microbalance. The results of cell adhesion assays illustrated that stimulation of the receptor with its ligand, CXCL12, promotes adhesion of HepG2-CXCR4 cells to both extracellular matrix and endothelial ligands.