Nephroblastoma overexpressed gene (NOV) enhances RCC cell motility through upregulation of ICAM-1 and COX-2 expression via Akt pathway.

Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) carries a high risk of malignancy and metastasis. The inducible isoform of prostaglandin synthase, cyclooxygenase (COX)-2, and ICAM-1 may be involved in tumor metastasis. CCN3, also called nephroblastoma overexpressed gene (NOV), has been found to regulate the proliferation and differentiation of cancer cells. The effects of NOV on RCC cell migration and expression of COX-2 and ICAM-1 have not described yet in detail. But here, NOV was found to promote the migration and expression of COX-2 and ICAM-1 in human RCC cells. Akt inhibitor was found to interfere with this NOV-induced migration and up-regulation of COX-2 and ICAM-1 in RCC cells. NOV stimulation was here found to promote the phosphorylation of Akt. RCC tissue chips were subjected to IHC staining, which showed COX-2 expression in RCC tissues to be a significantly closely correlated with NOV expression, with significance determined using Pearson correlation testing (P < 0.05). The results of the current work indicate that NOV activates COX-2 and ICAM-1 through Akt, promoting the migration of RCC cells.