The inhibition of metastatic progression of Somatostatin receptor type 2 （SSTR2） gene transfection mediated by adenovirus in human pancreatic carcinoma cells and the mechanisms involved in this effect were studied. The full-length human SSTR2 cDNA was introduced into the pancreatic cancer cell line BXPC-3 by adenovirus-mediated transfection. Stable expression of mRNAs and protein of SSTR2 was detected by RT-PCR and Western-blot. The Matrigel-coated Transwell was used to detect the migratory and invasive ability of SSTR2-expressing cells, Adv-GFP control cells and mock control cells. Furthermore, the expression of matrix metalloproteinase-2 （MMP-2） and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-2 （TIMP-2） was detected by RT-PCR in these cells. The stable expression of SSTR2 was detected in BXPC-3 transfected by Adv-GFP-SSTR2. A dramatic decrease of BXPC-3 expressing sst2 cells migrating through a Matrigel-coated filter was observed, as compared with Adv-GFP control and mock control cells （P〈0. 01）. Moreover, the expression of MMP-2 mRNA was significantly reduced in the SSTR2-expressing cells and converse- ly the expression of TIMP-2 mRNA was significantly increased in the SSTR2-expressing cells when compared with the Adv-GFP control and mock control （P〈0. 01）. The expression of reintroduced human SSTR2 gene in BXPC-3 cells by Adv-GFP-SSTR2 had the anti-migratory and anti-invasive effects, and the mechanisms involved in this effect may be due to the down-regulated expression of MMP-2 and up-regulated expression of TIMP-2.
