title: Identification of HRAS as cancer-promoting gene in gastric carcinoma cell aggressiveness.
abstract: Gastric carcinoma is one of the most lethal malignancies of cancers and its prognosis remains dismal due to the paucity of effective therapeutic targets. Herein, we showed that HRAS is markedly up-regulated in gastric carcinoma. Prognostic analysis indicated that HRAS expression might be a prognostic indicator for the survival of patients with gastric carcinoma. Ectopic expression of HRAS in gastric carcinoma cells accelerated proliferation, migration, invasion, angiogenesis, and clone formation ability of gastric carcinoma cells in vitro. Furthermore, HRAS over-expressing significantly promoted the tumorigenicity of gastric carcinoma cells in vivo whereas silencing endogenous HRAS caused opposite outcomes. Moreover, we demonstrated that HRAS enhanced gastric carcinoma aggressiveness by activating VEGFA/PI3K/AKT pathway and Raf-1 signaling. Together, our results provide new evidence that HRAS overexpression promotes the progression of gastric carcinoma and might represent a novel therapeutic target for its treatment.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine No. 155 Hanzhong Road, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Xiao Yu
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Shanghai Institute of Digestive Surgery 197 Ruijin 2 Road, Shanghai 200025, China.
authors.forename: Wen Tao
authors.initials: WT
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine No. 155 Hanzhong Road, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Zhen Feng
authors.initials: ZF
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine No. 155 Hanzhong Road, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Che
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine No. 155 Hanzhong Road, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Jia Yun
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine No. 155 Hanzhong Road, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Guan Nan
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine No. 155 Hanzhong Road, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Xue Quan
authors.initials: XQ
authors.lastname: Yao
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine No. 155 Hanzhong Road, Nanjing 210029, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Fu Kun
authors.initials: FK
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Jiangsu Cancer Hospital, The Affiliated Cancer Hospital of Nanjing Medical University No. 42 Baiziting, Nanjing 210009, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Li
keywords: HRAS; angiogenesis; gastric carcinoma; growth