title: Interleukin-32α inactivates JAK2/STAT3 signaling and reverses interleukin-6-induced epithelial-mesenchymal transition, invasion, and metastasis in pancreatic cancer cells.
abstract: Interleukin (IL)-32 is a newly discovered cytokine that has multifaceted roles in inflammatory bowel disease, cancer, and autoimmune diseases and participates in cell apoptosis, cancer cell growth inhibition, accentuation of inflammation, and angiogenesis. Here, we investigated the potential effects of IL-32α on epithelial-mesenchymal transition, metastasis, and invasion, and the JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway in pancreatic cancer cells. The human pancreatic cancer cell lines PANC-1 and SW1990 were used. Epithelial-mesenchymal transition-related markers, including E-cadherin, N-cadherin, Vimentin, Snail, and Zeb1, as well as extracellular matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), including MMP2, MMP7, and MMP9, were detected by immunofluorescence, Western blotting, and real-time polymerase chain reaction. The activation of JAK2/STAT3 signaling proteins was detected by Western blotting. Wound healing assays, real-time polymerase chain reaction, and Western blotting were performed to assess cell migration and invasion. The effects of IL-32α on the IL-6-induced activation of JAK2/STAT3 were also evaluated. In vitro, we found that IL-32α inhibits the expressions of the related markers N-cadherin, Vimentin, Snail, and Zeb1, as well as JAK2/STAT3 proteins, in a dose-dependent manner in pancreatic cancer cell lines. Furthermore, E-cadherin expression was increased significantly after IL-32α treatment. IL-32α downregulated the expression of MMPs, including MMP2, MMP7, and MMP9, and decreased wound healing in pancreatic cancer cells. These consistent changes were also found in IL-6-induced pancreatic cancer cells following IL-32α treatment. This study showed that reversion of epithelial-mesenchymal transition, inhibition of invasiveness and metastasis, and activation of the JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway could be achieved through the application of exogenous IL-32α.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou; Department of Surgery, The Sixth Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Lishui.
authors.forename: Jingfeng
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou.
authors.forename: Silu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou.
authors.forename: Jiadong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou.
authors.forename: Guanyu
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chu
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou.
authors.forename: Heyi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: You
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou.
authors.forename: Zongjing
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou.
authors.forename: Hongwei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou; Zhejiang Provincial Top Key Discipline in Surgery, Wenzhou Key Laboratory of Surgery, Department of Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Bicheng
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou.
authors.forename: Mengtao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhou
keywords: EMT; IL-32α; JAK2; MMPs; STAT3