Upregulation of microRNA-31 targeting integrin alpha 5 suppresses tumor cell invasion and metastasis by indirectly regulating PI3K/AKT pathway in human gastric cancer SGC7901 cells
TUMOR BIOLOGY
Authors: Zhang, Xue-Bin; Song, Lei; Wen, Hong-Juan; Bai, Xiao-Xue; Li, Zhen-Juan; Ma, Lian-Jun
Abstract
To verify the hypothesis that upregulation of microRNA-31 (miR-31) targeting integrin alpha 5 (ITGA5) suppresses tumor cell invasion and metastasis by indirectly regulating phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (AKT) signaling pathway in human SGC7901 gastric cancer (GC) cells. The miRTarBase was used to predict whether ITGA5 is the target gene of miR-31, which was further confirmed by luciferase reporter gene assay. The SGC7901 GC cells were divided into five groups including the blank, miR-31 mimic, miR-31 mimic control, miR-31 inhibitor, and miR-31 inhibitor control groups. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), western blotting, cell scratch test, and transwell assays were respectively performed in our study. TGA5 was found as the target gene of miR-31. The RT-PCR detection revealed that, compared with the blank group, ITGA5 messenger RNA (mRNA) expression decreased in the miR-31 mimic group, but increased in the miR-31 inhibitor group. The western blotting examination suggested that the expressions of ITGA5, PI3K, and AKT proteins reduced in the miR-31 mimic group, but enhanced in the miR-31 inhibitor group when compared to the blank group, respectively. The cell scratch and transwell assays indicated that the miR-31 expressions were negatively associated with GC cell migration and invasion. Besides, RT-PCR combined with western blotting demonstrated that the miR-31 expressions were higher in the normal tissues than those in the GC tissues, while the ITGA5 mRNA and protein showed lower expression in the normal tissues than they did in the GC tissues. Our study concluded that upregulation of miR-31 targeting ITGA5 may suppress tumor cell invasion and metastasis by indirectly regulating PI3K/AKT signaling pathway in human SGC7901 GC cells.
SRGN crosstalks with YAP to maintain chemoresistance and stemness in breast cancer cells by modulating HDAC2 expression
THERANOSTICS
Authors: Zhang, Zhijie; Qiu, Ni; Yin, Jiang; Zhang, Jianlei; Liu, Hao; Guo, Wei; Liu, Meijun; Liu, Ting; Chen, Danyang; Luo, Kai; Li, Hongsheng; He, Zhimin; Liu, Jinbao; Zheng, Guopei
Abstract
Background: Chemoresistance is a significant obstacle to the effective treatment of breast cancer (BC), resulting in more aggressive behavior and worse clinical outcome. The molecular mechanisms underlying breast cancer chemoresistance remain unclear. Our microarray analysis had identified the overexpression of a small molecular glycoprotein serglycin (SRGN) in multidrug-resistant BC cells. Here, we aimed to investigate the role of SRGN in chemoresistance of breast cancer and elucidate the underlying mechanisms. Methods: SRNG overexpression was identified using microarray analysis and its clinical relevance was analyzed. To investigate the role of SRGN, we performed various in vitro and in vivo studies, as well as characterization of serum and tissue samples from BC patients. Chemosensitivity measurement, gene expression interference, immunofluorescence staining, mammosphere assay, flow cytometry analysis, luciferase reporter assay, ChIP-qPCR, coimmunoprecipitation, and immunohistochemistry were performed to explore the potential functions and mechanisms of SRGN. Results: We confirmed overexpression of SRGN in chemoresistant BC cells and in serum and tissue samples from BC patients with poor response to chemotherapy. SRGN specifically predicted poor prognosis in BC patients receiving chemotherapy. Mechanistically, SRGN promoted chemoresistance both in vitro and in vivo by cross-talking with the transcriptional coactivator YES-associated protein (YAP) to maintain stemness in BC cells. Ectopic YAP expression restored the effects of SRGN knockdown. Inversely, YAP knockdown rescued the effects of SRGN overexpression. The secreted SRGN triggered ITGA5/FAK/CREB signaling to enhance YAP transcription. Reciprocally, YAP promoted SRGN transcription in a TEAD1-dependent manner to form a feed-forward circuit. Moreover, the YAP/RUNX1 complex promoted HDAC2 transcription to induce chemoresistance and stemness in BC cells. Importantly, the SRGN levels were positively correlated with the YAP and HDAC2 levels in chemoresistant BC tissues. YAP and HDAC2 acted downstream of SRNG and correlated with poor outcomes of BC patients receiving chemotherapy. Conclusions: Our findings clarify the roles and mechanisms of SRGN in mediating chemoresistance in breast cancer and suggest its use a potential biomarker for chemotherapeutic response. We believe that novel therapeutic strategies for breast cancer can be designed by targeting the signaling mediated by the crosstalk between SRGN and YAP.