title: Upregulation of ROCK2 in gastric cancer cell promotes tumor cell proliferation, metastasis and invasion.
abstract: Rho-associated coiled-coil-containing protein kinase 2 (ROCK2) has been known as an effector for the small GTPase Rho and plays an important role in tumor progression and metastasis. However, the effect of ROCK2 in gastric cancer (GC) has not been identified. This study showed that ROCK2 expression significantly increased in clinical GC tissues compared with adjacent non-cancer tissues. Immunohistochemistrical analysis showed that high expression of ROCK2 was correlated with tumor grade, tumor-node-metastasis stage, infiltration depth, lymph node invasion and Ki-67, and predicted poor prognosis in 135 gastric cancer specimens. In addition, we found that upregulated ROCK2 promoted proliferation, metastasis and invasion of GC cells, while ROCK2 knockdown led to the opposite results in vitro by Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay, colony formation assays, flow cytometric analysis and trans-well assays. Our findings supported that ROCK2 was a significant protein in the progress of GC and would provide a novel promising therapeutic strategy against human GC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, 20 Xisi Road, Nantong, 226001, Jiangsu, China.|Jiangsu Province Key Laboratory for Inflammation and Molecular Drug Target, Nantong University, 19 QiXiu Road, Nantong, 226001, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Manhua
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, 20 Xisi Road, Nantong, 226001, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ke
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Laboratory,Nantong Maternal and Child Health Care Hospital, Affiliated to Nantong University, 339 Shiji Avenue, Nantong, 226001, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Qiuhong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Cancer Research Center Nantong, Nantong Tumor Hospital, Nantong, 226001, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Hongyan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Nantong Tumor Hospital, Nantong, 226363, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Lei
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Nantong Tumor Hospital, Nantong, 226363, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Xunlei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Nantong Tumor Hospital, Nantong, 226363, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Jinzhang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, 20 Xisi Road, Nantong, 226001, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Haifang
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, 20 Xisi Road, Nantong, 226001, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Xiaohang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Shan
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, 20 Xisi Road, Nantong, 226001, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Qingqing
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, 20 Xisi Road, Nantong, 226001, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, 20 Xisi Road, Nantong, 226001, Jiangsu, China. baobojun6@163.com.
authors.forename: Bojun
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3613-1056
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bao
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Affiliated Hospital of Nantong University, 20 Xisi Road, Nantong, 226001, Jiangsu, China. ntfyhuanghua@163.com.
authors.forename: Hua
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Huang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002465:Cell Movement; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D013274:Stomach Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D015854:Up-Regulation; D054460:rho-Associated Kinases / Q000096:biosynthesis*
chemical_list: C515852:ROCK2 protein, human; D054460:rho-Associated Kinases
keywords: Gastric cancer; Invasion; Metastasis; Proliferation; ROCK2