title: ZNRF3 acts as a tumour suppressor by the Wnt signalling pathway in human gastric adenocarcinoma.
abstract: E3 ubiquitin ligases regulate a variety of biological processes through the ubiquitin-proteasome system, together with ubiquitin activating enzyme E1 and ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme E2. Previous studies have demonstrated that zinc and ring finger 3 (ZNRF3), which belongs to the E3 ubiquitin ligases family is involved in the Wnt signalling pathway, which plays an important role in causing cancer. However, the expression and function of ZNRF3 in human gastric adenocarcinoma still remains unclear. Immunohistochemical and western blot analysis showed a significant down-regulation of ZNRF3 protein in gastric adenocarcinoma tissues compared with adjacent normal gastric tissues. In addition, there was a correlation between the down-regulation of ZNRF3 and poor tissue differentiation in gastric adenocarcinoma. To investigate the potential function of ZNRF3 in cell proliferation and apoptosis, a gastric cell line SGC7901 was employed. The over-expression of wild-type ZNRF3, which was accomplished by the transient transfection of recombinant pEGFP-ZNRF3 (or empty plasmids as control) into the cell line SGC7901, was confirmed by western blot analysis. Flow-cytometry-based and Cell Counting Kit-8 assays showed that over-expression of wt ZNRF3 induced apoptosis and suppressed proliferation. ZNRF3-overexpressing gastric cells displayed partly attenuated protein levels of beta-catenin and TCF-4 compared with those transfected with the empty plasmid. Our study demonstrates a novel gastric adenocarcinoma suppressor and reveals that ZNRF3 inhibits gastric cancer cell growth and promotes the cell apoptosis by affecting the Wnt/beta-catenin/TCF signalling pathway.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, 215006, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Yehui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lan
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Qin
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lan
authors.forename: Zhiyi
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Honggeng
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Guan
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D000328:Adult; D017209:Apoptosis; D051778:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Leucine Zipper Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D005260:Female; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D006801:Humans; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D060787:Neoplasm Grading; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D000073940:Transcription Factor 4; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D044767:Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D060449:Wnt Signaling Pathway; D051176:beta Catenin / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D051778:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Leucine Zipper Transcription Factors; C495270:CTNNB1 protein, human; D019394:Ki-67 Antigen; C532096:TCF4 protein, human; D000073940:Transcription Factor 4; D014157:Transcription Factors; D051176:beta Catenin; D044767:Ubiquitin-Protein Ligases; C572950:ZNRF3 protein, human