Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Sep 15, 2023; 15(9): 1544-1555
Published online Sep 15, 2023. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v15.i9.1544
Osteopontin promotes gastric cancer progression via phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase/protein kinase B/mammalian target of rapamycin signaling pathway
Yue-Chao Qin, Xin Yan, Xiao-Lin Yuan, Wei-Wei Yu, Fan-Jie Qu
Yue-Chao Qin, Xin Yan, Wei-Wei Yu, Fan-Jie Qu, Department of Oncology, Affiliated Dalian Third People’s Hospital of Dalian Medical University, Dalian 116033, Liaoning Province, China
Yue-Chao Qin, Xiao-Lin Yuan, Research Center, Affiliated Zhongshan Hospital of Dalian University, Dalian 116001, Liaoning Province, China
Author contributions: Qu FJ and Yuan XL designed this study; Qin YC and Yan X directed the experiment technology; Qin YC and Yu WW performed the experiments; Qin YC prepared the figures and drafted the manuscript; Qu FJ helped to revising of manuscript; All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Supported by Liaoning Provincial Natural Science Foundation, No. 201602209.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Ethics Committee of the Affiliated Dalian Third People’s Hospital of Dalian Medical University.
Conflict-of-interest statement: We have no financial relationships to disclose.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Fan-Jie Qu, MD, Professor, Department of Oncology, Affiliated Dalian Third People’s Hospital of Dalian Medical University, No. 40 Qianshan Road, Dalian 116033, Liaoning Province, China. wyb960419@163.com
Received: April 11, 2023
Peer-review started: April 11, 2023
First decision: July 9, 2023
Revised: July 14, 2023
Accepted: July 28, 2023
Article in press: July 28, 2023
Published online: September 15, 2023
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Gastric cancer (GC) is one of the most common malignant tumors. Osteopontin (OPN) is thought to be closely related to the occurrence, metastasis and prognosis of many types of tumors.

AIM

To investigate the effects of OPN on the proliferation, invasion and migration of GC cells and its possible mechanism.

METHODS

The mRNA and protein expression of OPN in the GC cells were analyzed by real-time quantitative-reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and western blotting, and observe the effect of varying degree expression OPN on the proliferation and other behaviors of GC. Next, the effects of OPN knockdown on GC cells migration and invasion were examined. The short hairpin RNA (shRNA) and negative control shRNA targeting OPN-shRNA were transfected into the cells according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Non transfected cells were classified as control in the identical transfecting process. 24 h after RNA transfection cell proliferation activity was detected by 3-(4,5)-dimethylthiahiazo (-z-y1)-3,5-di-phenytetrazoliumromide assay, and cell invasiveness and migration were detected by Trans well assay. Meanwhile, the expression of protein kinase B (AKT), matrix metalloproteinase 2 (MMP-2) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in the human GC cell lines was detected by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction and western blotting.

RESULTS

The results of this study revealed that OPN mRNA and protein expression levels were highly expressed in SGC-7901 cells. OPN knockdown by specific shRNA noticeably reduced the capabilities of proliferation, invasion and migration of SGC-7901 cells. Moreover, in the experiments of investigating the underlying mechanism, results showed that OPN knockdown could down-regulated the expression of MMP-2 and VEGF, it also decreased the phosphorylation of AKT. Meanwhile, the protein expression levels of MMP-2, VEGF and phosphorylated AKT was noticeable lower than that in control group in the GC cells after they were added to phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor (LY294002).

CONCLUSION

These results suggested that OPN though PI3K/AKT/mammalian target of rapamycin signal pathway to up-regulate MMP-2 and VEGF expression, which contribute SGC-7901 cells to proliferation, invasion and migration. Thus, our results demonstrate that OPN may serve as a novel prognostic biomarkers as well as a potential therapeutic targets for GC.

Keywords: Osteopontin, Proliferation, Invasion, Migration, Gastric cancer, Phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase/protein kinase B/mammalian target of rapamycin signaling pathway

Core Tip: We investigated the effects of osteopontin (OPN) on the proliferation, invasion and migration of gastric cancer (GC) cells and its possible mechanism. The results of this study revealed that OPN mRNA and protein expression levels were highly expressed in SGC-7901 cells. OPN knockdown by specific short hairpin RNA noticeably reduced the capabilities of proliferation, invasion and migration of SGC-7901 cells. Moreover, our results showed that OPN though phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase/protein kinase B/mammalian target of rapamycin signaling pathway signal pathway to up-regulate matrix metalloproteinase 2 and vascular endothelial growth factor expression, which contribute SGC-7901 cells to proliferation, invasion and migration. These results demonstrate that OPN may serve as a novel prognostic biomarkers as well as a potential therapeutic targets for GC.