Corticotropin-Releasing Hormone (CRH), an important regulator of stress response, has a potent immunoregulatory effect with the ability to promote the growth of various cancer through CRH receptor type 1 under stress. Although the metastasized cancers through cell migration are more aggressive than the primary cancers, little is known about the effect of CRH on cell migration. Gastric cancer is prone to metastasize to other tissues and it is reported that gastric cancer is response to various stresses such as oxidative stress. Herein, we studied the relationship between CRH and gastric cancer cell migration.

We used gastric cancer cell line, MKN-28 and tested the CRH receptor type 1 expression on MKN-28 by RT-PCR. To examine the change in the ability of migration by CRH in MKN-28, cells were incubated with CRH and then migration ability was measured using a cell migration assay.

We confirmed that CRH receptor type 1 was expressed in MKN-28 and HaCaT cells. The migration ability of MKN-28 cells was increased by CRH in a time-, dose-dependent manner.

These data suggest that CRH increases migration ability in gastric cancer cell line and that CRH may be a critical regulator in the metastasis of gastric cancer cell.