MCF-7 breast cancer cells stably transfected with protein kinase C-alpha (MCF-7-PKC-alpha cells) show anchorage-independent growth and exhibit increased tumorigenicity in nude mice. Since integrins are involved in tumor growth and metastatic spread, we investigated whether integrin expression is differentially regulated in MCF-7-PKC-alpha cells. Fluorescence-activated cell sorting revealed that alphavbeta3 is highly expressed on MCF-7-PKC-alpha cells, but is undetectable on MCF-7V cells (MCF-7 cells transfected with vector only). In contrast, MCF-7-PKC-alpha cells have reduced expression of alphavbeta5. Blocking experiments with antibodies to alphavbeta3 and alphavbeta5 revealed that these receptors are used by MCF-7-PKC-alpha cells to adhere primarily to vitronectin and osteopontin. Consistent with heterodimer expression, MCF-7-PKC-alpha cells express increased beta3 and decreased beta5 on their surface. Surface expression of alphav on MCF-7-PKC-alpha cells is unchanged. Western blotting, Northern analysis, and nuclear run-on assays indicated that post-translational mechanisms increase the surface expression of beta3 on MCF-7-PKC-alpha cells. In contrast, reduced beta5 transcription diminishes beta5 surface expression on MCF-7-PKC-alpha cells. These results indicate that overexpression of PKC-alpha in MCF-7 cells alters beta5 and beta3 expression by transcriptional and post-translational mechanisms, respectively, resulting in altered heterodimer expression. These findings suggest that the increased metastatic capacity of tumor cells with elevated protein kinase C levels may result, in part, from modulation of integrin expression.