title: Insulin-like growth factor-I induces epithelial to mesenchymal transition via GSK-3β and ZEB2 in the BGC-823 gastric cancer cell line.
abstract: Metastasis is the most common cause of mortality in patients with gastric cancer. Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), which may be stimulated by insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) is involved in the metastasis of numerous tumors; however, the molecular mechanism by which IGF-I may induce tumor cell EMT remains to be elucidated in gastric cancer. The present study aimed to investigate the induction of EMT in BGC-823 gastric cancer cells. It was identified that IGF-I induced EMT by upregulating the levels of ZEB2 transcription factor, and this was dependent on the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt signaling pathway in these cells. In addition, glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK-3β), an intracellular downstream effector of PI3K/Akt, sustained the epithelial phenotype by repressing ZEB2 expression and the subsequent inhibition of EMT induced by IGF-I, suggesting the involvement of a potential PI3K/Akt-GSK-3β-ZEB2 signaling pathway in IGF-I-induced EMT in gastric cancer BGC-823 cells. Overall, the results of the present study suggest that IGF-I induced EMT by the activation of a PI3K/Akt-GSK-3β-ZEB2 signaling pathway in gastric cancer BGC-823 cells. Therefore, this study may provide more useful information regarding the mechanism of gastric cancer metastasis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110001, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Heming
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110001, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110001, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110001, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yanju
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Liaoning Medical University, Jinzhou, Liaoning 121001, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Zhitu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110001, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Yunpeng
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Oncology, The First Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110001, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xiujuan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Qu
keywords: GSK-3β; ZEB2; epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition; insulin-like growth factor-I; insulin-like growth factor-I receptor