Membrane ruffling of a tumour cell is correlated with its motile and metastatic behaviour. This study examined the effect of gamma linolenic acid (GLA), an anti-cancer agent, on HGF/SF induced membrane ruffling in the human cancer cell line, HT115. HGF induced a rapid appearance of membrane ruffling which was related to increased motility and the tyrosine phosphorylation and translocation of ezrin, a membrane-cytoskeleton linker protein. The presence of GLA significantly inhibited both the membrane ruffling and cell motility of the tumour cells, at sub-toxic concentrations. Western blotting revealed that the tyrosine phosphorylation of ezrin was inhibited by GLA. The translocation ezrin from cytosol and generalised areas of cell membrane to ruffled areas of the membrane induced by HGF/SF was also inhibited as shown by both indirect immunofluorescence and transmission electron microscopy. It is concluded that GLA inhibits HGF/SF induced membrane ruffling via its effect on ezrin, and this provides a further molecular explanation for the anti-tumour action of GLA.

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