PRRX1 promotes epithelial-mesenchymal transition through the Wnt/[beta]-catenin pathway in gastric cancer

Carcinoma cells hijack the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) for tumor dissemination. Paired-related homeobox 1 (PRRX1) has been identified as a new EMT inducer. However, the function of PRRX1 in gastric cancer has not been elucidated. In this study, we observed that PRRX1 expression levels we...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Medical oncology (Northwood, London, England) London, England), 2015-01, Vol.32 (1), p.1
Main Authors: Guo, Jinbao, Fu, Zhongxue, Wei, Jinlai, Lu, Weidong, Feng, Jihong, Zhang, Shouru
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Oncology
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Summary:Carcinoma cells hijack the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) for tumor dissemination. Paired-related homeobox 1 (PRRX1) has been identified as a new EMT inducer. However, the function of PRRX1 in gastric cancer has not been elucidated. In this study, we observed that PRRX1 expression levels were upregulated and positively correlated with metastasis and EMT markers in human gastric cancer specimens. PRRX1 overexpression had distinct effects on the cell morphology, proliferation, migration and invasion of BGC823 and SGC7901 gastric cancer cells both in vitro and in xenografts. PRRX1 overexpression resulted in the regulation of the EMT molecular markers N-cadherin, E-cadherin and vimentin as well as the levels of intranuclear [beta]-catenin and the Wnt/[beta]-catenin target c-Myc. Furthermore, the inhibition of the Wnt/[beta]-catenin pathway by XAV939 offset the effects of PRRX1 overexpression. These findings demonstrate that PRRX1 promotes EMT in gastric cancer cells through the activation of Wnt/[beta]-catenin signaling and that PRRX1 upregulation is closely correlated with gastric cancer metastasis.
ISSN:1357-0560
1559-131X
DOI:10.1007/s12032-014-0393-x