Knockdown of Snail inhibits epithelial–mesenchymal transition of human laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma Hep-2 cells through the vitamin D receptor signaling pathway

It has been well documented that Snail plays a decisive role in various tumors. However, the direct effect of Snail on laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) has not been elaborated. In this study, we firstly detected the expression of Snail in 14 samples of patients with LSCC and found that its content was high in cancer tissues compared with adjacent tissues. Then we established LSCC Hep-2 cells with Snail silencing and validated the knockdown efficiency by Western blotting and real-time PCR. Results showed that silencing of Snail significantly inhibited the ability of adhesion, migration, and invasion of Hep-2 cells. Further study revealed that knockdown of Snail suppressed the epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) process of Hep-2 cells, as evidenced by downregulation of matrix metallopeptidase (MMP)-2, MMP-9, integrin subunit beta 1 (ITGβ1), β-catenin, vimentin, N-cadherin, and fibronectin and upregulation of vitamin D receptor (VDR) and E-cadherin. Additionally, transfection with the small interfering RNA of VDR reversed the effect induced by Snail silencing in Hep-2 cells. Taken together, these results demonstrate that knockdown of Snail can inhibit the EMT process of LSCC cells through the VDR signaling pathway in vitro.