scholarly journals Apelin Over-Expression Promotes Proliferation and Angiogenesis of Gastric Cancer Cells

Author(s):  
Li-Jun Tian ◽  
Hong-Zhi Liu ◽  
Qiang Zhang ◽  
Dian-Zhong Geng ◽  
Jing Yang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Apelin is a recently identified endogenous ligand associated with proliferation and angiogenesis of several cancers. However, only few studies have reported on the functions and the role of apelin in gastric cancer (GC). Therefore, in the present study, we investigated the association and the mechanisms underlying Apelin expression and proliferation of GC cells both in vitro and in vivo.Methods: We enrolled 178 postoperative care GC patients to investigate clinicopathological and immunohistochemical factors associated with Apelin expression. The relationship between Survival of patients and apelin expression was evaluated using Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression analyses. The expression of apelin mRNA and its proteins in GC tissues and cell lines were analyzed using quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), western blot and ELISA. The role and mechanisms underlying regulation of Apelin expression in human GC cells were evaluated through several in vitro and in vivo experiments. Results: Apelin was over expressed in human GC cells, relative to adjacent normal tissues. The over expression of apelin was associated with vessel invasion (P <0.01), lymph node metastasis (P <0.01), late-staged tumor (T) (P <0.05), worse pathological type (P <0.05), nerve invasion (P <0.05). In addition, expression of apelin strongly and positively correlated with that of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Over-expression of apelin promoted proliferation and invasion of MGC-803 cell via the ERK/Cyclin D1/MMP-9 signaling pathway. Apelin over-expression also promoted angiogenesis of GC cells, accelerating growth of subcutaneous xenograft of the cancer cells in vivo.Conclusions: Over-expression of apelin promotes proliferation and metastasis of GC cells via the ERK/Cyclin D1/MMP-9 signaling pathway and is associated with adverse events of the cancer. Consequently, apelin is a potential therapeutic target for human GC.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
LiJun Tian ◽  
Hong-Zhi Liu ◽  
Qiang Zhang ◽  
Dian-Zhong Geng ◽  
Jing Yang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Apelin is a recently identified endogenous ligand associated with proliferation and angiogenesis of several cancers. However, only few studies have reported on the functions and the role of apelin in gastric cancer (GC). Therefore, in the present study, we investigated the association and the mechanisms underlying Apelin expression and proliferation of GC cells both in vitro and in vivo.Methods: We enrolled 178 postoperative care GC patients to investigate clinicopathological and immunohistochemical factors associated with Apelin expression. The relationship between Survival of patients and apelin expression was evaluated using Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression analyses. The expression of apelin mRNA and its proteins in GC tissues and cell lines were analyzed using quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), western blot and ELISA. The role and mechanisms underlying regulation of Apelin expression in human GC cells were evaluated through several in vitro and in vivo experiments. Results: Apelin was over expressed in human GC cells, relative to adjacent normal tissues. The over expression of apelin was associated with vessel invasion (P <0.01), lymph node metastasis (P <0.01), late-staged tumor (T) (P <0.05), worse pathological type (P <0.05), nerve invasion (P <0.05). In addition, expression of apelin strongly and positively correlated with that of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Over-expression of apelin promoted proliferation and invasion of MGC-803 cell via the ERK/Cyclin D1/MMP-9 signaling pathway. Apelin over-expression also promoted angiogenesis of GC cells, accelerating growth of subcutaneous xenograft of the cancer cells in vivo.Conclusions: Over-expression of apelin promotes proliferation and metastasis of GC cells via the ERK/Cyclin D1/MMP-9 signaling pathway and is associated with adverse events of the cancer. Consequently, apelin is a potential therapeutic target for human GC.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
LiJun Tian ◽  
Hong-Zhi Liu ◽  
Qiang Zhang ◽  
Dian-Zhong Geng ◽  
Jing Yang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Apelin is an emerging endogenous ligand, which is involved in proliferation and angiogenesis in certain cancers. However, few studies have reported its functions and underlying mechanisms in human gastric cancer (GC). Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the effect of Apelin expression in human GC and the underlying mechanisms of Apelin in the promotion of proliferation both in vitro and in vivo.Methods: A total of 178 patients diagnosed with GC under postoperative care were enrolled for the study to investigate clinicopathological and immunohistochemical factors of Apelin expression. Survival of patients was analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression model. We adopted quantitative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), western blot and ELISA to analyze human GC specimens and cell lines. The role and mechanisms of Apelin were evaluated by performing in vitro and in vivo experiments to analyze exogenous Apelin and its overexpression in human GC cells. Results: The expression of Apelin was higher in human gastric cancer cells than in adjacent normal tissues. Apelin, which was overexpressed in vessel invasion (P <0.01), lymph node metastasis (P <0.01), late-staged tumor (T) status (P <0.05), pathological type (P <0.05) and nerve invasion (P <0.05), also exhibited a positive correlation with vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF). Apelin overexpression or exogenous Apelin activated downstream of ERK/Cyclin D1/MMP-9 signaling pathway to promote MGC-803 cell proliferation and invasion in vitro. Apelin overexpression promoted angiogenesis aiming at accelerating growth of subcutaneous xenograft in vivo.Conclusions: This study has elucidated the relationship between Apelin and its clinicopathological features in human GC, and the role of Apelin in tumor cell proliferation in human GC cell lines. This is the first study to elucidate underlying mechanisms of Apelin in the proliferation of GC. Apelin can be a potential therapeutic target for human GC.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bin Wu ◽  
Yan-xia Wang ◽  
Jun-jie Wang ◽  
Dong-fang Xiang ◽  
Meng-si Zhang ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Plexin-domain containing 2 (PLXDC2) has been reported as an oncoprotein in several human malignancies. However, its expression and roles in gastric cancer remain largely unclear. Methods: The expression of PLXDC2 in 170 gastric cancer specimens was measured by using immunohistochemical staining and its clinical relevance was statistically analyzed. Matrigel-transwell invasion assays and mouse intraperitoneal metastasis models with PLXDC2-silencing and -overexpressing gastric cells were performed to explore the biological functions of PLXDC2 in gastric cancer cells. RNA-Seq, immunofluorescence and Co-IP analyses were used to investigate the potential molecular mechanisms of PLXDC2 action in gastric cancer. Results: PLXDC2 was highly expressed in gastric cancer tissues, and the expression levels were positively correlated with clinicopathological features, but negatively with the patients’ outcome. Cox regression analysis identified PLXDC2 as an independent prognostic indicator for the patients. Knockdown of PLXDC2 markedly suppressed the in vitro invasion and in vivo metastasis of gastric cancer cells, while overexpression of PLXDC2 resulted in opposite effects. Mechanistically, PLXDC2 inhibited dephosphorylation of phosphorylated Cortactin by physically interacting with PTP1B, an important tyrosine phosphatase, thereby promoting the formation of invadopodium. Conclusions: PLXDC2 contributes to the invasion and metastasis of gastric cancer by inhibiting PTP1B to facilitate the invadopodium formation, and may serve as a potential prognostic biomarker and a therapeutic target for this disease.


2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dawei Rong ◽  
Chen Lu ◽  
Betty Zhang ◽  
Kai Fu ◽  
Shuli Zhao ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Circular RNAs (circRNAs) are a class of non-coding RNAs with a loop structure, but its functions remain largely unknown. Growing evidence has revealed that circRNAs play a striking role as functional RNAs in the progression of malignant disease. However, the precise role of circRNAs in gastric cancer (GC) remains unclear. Methods CircRNAs were determined by human circRNA array analysis and quantitative reverse transcription polymerase reaction. Luciferase reporter, RNA pull down, and fluorescence in situ hybridization assays were employed to test the interaction between circPSMC3 and miR-296-5p. Ectopic over-expression and siRNA-mediated knockdown of circPSMC3, proliferation, migration and invasion in vitro, and in vivo experiment of metastasis were used to evaluate the function of circPSMC3. Results CircPSMC3 rather than liner PSMC3 mRNA was down-regulated in GC tissues, corresponding plasmas from GC patients as well as GC cell lines compared to normal controls. Lower circPSMC3 expression in GC patients was correlated with higher TNM stage and shorter overall survival. Over-expression of circPSMC3 and miR-296-5p inhibitor could inhibit the tumorigenesis of gastric cancer cells in vivo and vitro whereas co-transfection of circPSMC3 and miRNA-296-5p could counteract this effect. Importantly, we demonstrated that circPSMC3 could act as a sponge of miR-296-5p to regulate the expression of Phosphatase and Tensin Homolog (PTEN), and further suppress the tumorigenesis of gastric cancer cells. Conclusion Our study reveals that circPSMC3 can serve as a novel potential circulating biomarker for detection of GC. CircPSMC3 participates in progression of gastric cancer by sponging miRNA-296-5p with PTEN, providing a new insight into the treatment of gastric cancer.


2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
An Yang ◽  
Xin Liu ◽  
Ping Liu ◽  
Yunzhang Feng ◽  
Hongbo Liu ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Long noncoding RNA (lncRNA), urothelial carcinoma-associated 1 (UCA1) is aberrantly expressed in multiple cancers and has been verified as an oncogene. However, the underlying mechanism of UCA1 in the development of gastric cancer is not fully understood. In the present study, we aimed to identify how UCA1 promotes gastric cancer development. Methods The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) data were used to analyze UCA1 and myosin VI (MYO6) expression in gastric cancer. Western blot and quantitative real-time PCR (QPCR) were performed to test the expression level of the UCA1/miR-145/MYO6 axis in gastric cancer cell lines and tissues. The roles of the UCA1/miR-145/MYO6 axis in gastric cancer in vitro and in vivo were investigated by CCK-8 assay, flow cytometry, siRNAs, immunohistochemistry, and a mouse xenograft model. The targeted relationship among UCA1, miR-145, and MYO6 was predicted using LncBase Predicted v.2 and TargetScan online software, and then verified by luciferase activity assay and RNA immunoprecipitation. Results UCA1 expression was higher but miR-145 expression was lower in gastric cancer cell lines or tissues, compared to the adjacent normal cell line or normal tissues. Function analysis verified that UCA1 promoted cell proliferation and inhibited cell apoptosis in the gastric cancer cells in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, UCA1 could bind directly to miR-145, and MYO6 was found to be a downstream target gene of miR-145. miR-145 mimics or MYO6 siRNAs could partly reverse the effect of UCA1 on gastric cancer cells. Conclusions UCA1 accelerated cell proliferation and inhibited cell apoptosis through sponging miR-145 to upregulate MYO6 expression in gastric cancer, indicating that the UCA1/miR-145/MYO6 axis may serve as a potential therapeutic target for gastric cancer.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zi-Jian Deng ◽  
Dong-Wen Chen ◽  
Xi-Jie Chen ◽  
Jia-Ming Fang ◽  
Liang Xv ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Gastric cancer is the fourth most common malignant disease. Both CDK10 and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) have been found to exert biological functions in multiple cancers. However, it is still unclear whether CDK10 represses tumor progression in gastric cancer by reducing potential targeting lncRNAs.Methods: The functions of CDK10 and lncRNA-C5ORF42-5 in proliferation, invasion and migration were assessed by MTS assays, colony formation assays, cell cycle and apoptosis assays, Transwell assays, wound healing assays and animal experiments. We used high-throughput sequencing to confirm the existence of lncRNA-C5ORF42-5 and quantitative real-time PCR was used to evaluate lncRNA expression. Then, with RNA-seq sequencing as well as GO function and KEGG enrichment analysis, we identified the signaling pathways in which lncRNA-C5ORF42-5 was involved in gastric cancer. Finally, western blotting was used to identify the genes regulated by lncRNA-C5ORF42-5.Results: Our results showed that CDK10 is expressed at relatively low levels in gastric cancer cell lines and inhibits the progression of gastric cancer cells both in vitro and in vivo. Next, based on high-throughput sequencing, we identified a novel lncRNA, lncRNA-C5ORF42-5, in the stable CDK10-overexpressing cell line compared with the CDK-knockdown cell line and their controls. Additionally, we confirmed that lncRNA-C5ORF42-5 acts as an oncogene to promote metastasis in gastric cancer in vitro and in vivo. We then ascertained that lncRNA-C5ORF42-5 is a major contributor to the function of CDK10 in gastric cancer metastasis by upregulating lncRNA-C5ORF42-5 to reverse the effects of CDK10 overexpression. Finally, we explored the mechanism by which lncRNA-C5ORF42-5 overexpression affects gastric cancer cells to elucidate whether lncRNA-C5ORF42-5 may increase the activity of the SMAD pathway of BMP signaling and promote the expression of EMT-related proteins, such as E-cadherin. Additionally, overexpression of lncRNA-C5ORF42-5 affected the phosphorylation levels of AKT and ERK.Conclusion: Our findings suggest that CDK10 overexpression represses gastric cancer tumor progression by reducing lncRNA-C5ORF42-5 and hindering activation of the related proteins in metastatic signaling pathways, which provides new insight into developing effective therapeutic strategies in the treatment of metastatic gastric cancer.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shenshuo Gao ◽  
Zhikai Zhang ◽  
Xubin Wang ◽  
Yan Ma ◽  
Chensheng Li ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common malignancies, and more and more evdiences show that the pathogenesis is regulated by various miRNAs.In this study, we investigated the role of miR-875 in GC. Methods:The expression of miR-875-5p was detected in human GC specimens and cell lines by miRNA RT-PCR. The effect of miR-875-5p on GC proliferation was determined by CCK-8 proliferation assay and EDU assay. Migration and invasion were examined by transwell migration and invasion assay and wound healing assay. The interaction between miR-875-5p and its target gene USF2 was verified by a dual luciferase reporter assay. The effects of miR-875-5p in vivo were studied in xenograft nude mice models.Related proteins were detected by Western blot.Results:The results showed that miR-875-5p inhibited the proliferation, migration and invasion of gastric cancer cells in vitro, and inhibited tumorigenesis in vivo. USF2 proved to be a direct target of miR-875-5p. Knockdown of USF2 partially counteracts the effects of miR-875-5p inhibitors.Overexpression of miR-875-5p can inhibit proliferation, migration, and invasion through the TGF-β signaling pathway by down-regulation of USF2 in GC, providing a new research direction for the diagnosis and targeted therapy of GC.Conclusions: MiR-875-5pcan inhibited the progression of GC by directly targeting USF2 and negatively regulating TGF-β signaling pathway.In the future, miR-875-5p is expected to be used as a potential therapeutic target for GC therapy.


2016 ◽  
Vol 40 (7) ◽  
pp. 770-778 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hao Nie ◽  
Yu Wang ◽  
Yong Qin ◽  
Xing-Guo Gong

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