Shugoshin1 enhances multidrug resistance of gastric cancer cells by regulating MRP1, Bcl-2, and Bax genes.

Multidrug resistance (MDR) is a major clinical obstacle in treatment of gastric cancer (GC) and it accounts for the majority of cancer-related mortalities. Shugoshin1 (SGO1) is an important player in appropriate chromosome segregation and is involved in tumorigenesis. In this study, we found endogenous SGO1 overexpression in the multidrug-resistant GC cell lines SGC7901/VCR and SGC7901/ADR compared with their parental cell line SGC7901. By enhancing expression of SGO1, sensitivity of SGC7901 cells to vincristine (VCR), adriamycin, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), and cisplatin (CDDP) was significantly diminished. Silencing its expression resulted in enhanced sensitivity of SGC7901/VCR and SGC7901/ADR cells to these antitumor drugs. Additionally, we confirmed that SGO1 increased capacity of cells to enable adriamycin (ADR) efflux and inhibit drug-induced apoptosis by regulating MRP 1, Bcl-2, and Bax genes so as to confer a MDR phenotype to GC cells. In brief, these findings suggest that SGO1 promotes MDR of GC cells and may be useful as a novel therapeutic target for preventing or reversing MDR.