title: PRRX1 promotes epithelial-mesenchymal transition through the Wnt/β-catenin pathway in gastric cancer.
abstract: 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 β-catenin and the Wnt/β-catenin target c-Myc. Furthermore, the inhibition of the Wnt/β-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/β-catenin signaling and that PRRX1 upregulation is closely correlated with gastric cancer metastasis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, 400016, China.
authors.forename: Jinbao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.forename: Zhongxue
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Jinlai
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wei
authors.forename: Weidong
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: Jihong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Shouru
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D000818:Animals; D015153:Blotting, Western; D058750:Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D064593:Heterografts; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008819:Mice, Nude; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness / Q000473:pathology; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D059467:Transcriptome; D060449:Wnt Signaling Pathway / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; C082157:PRRX1 protein, human