Xue Mei, Zhu Fei-Ya, Chen Lin, Wang Kai
Department of Stomatology, Third Hospital, Peking University Beijing, PR China.
Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, The Second Xiangya Hospital of Central South University Changsha, Hunan, PR China.
Am J Transl Res. 2017 Mar 15;9(3):1151-1161. eCollection 2017.
HoxB9, as a HOX family member, is known to play important roles in embryonic development. Recent studies have shown that HoxB9 is involved in cancer progression. However, little is known about the role of HoxB9 and the underlying mechanisms that suppress oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) progression. In the present study, we used immunohistochemical staining to demonstrate that HoxB9 is over-expressed in OSCC cells and found that high levels of HoxB9 were significantly associated with shorter overall survival in patients with OSCC. Functional studies revealed that knocking down HoxB9 in OSCC cells using RNA interference decreased the migration and invasion of OSCC cells . Our mechanistic studies suggested that HoxB9 could stimulate the migration and invasion of OSCC cells by targeting EMT via the TGF-β1/Smad2/Slug signaling pathway. Collectively, these findings suggest the vital roles of HoxB9 in OSCC progression through its effects in promoting EMT.
HoxB9作为HOX家族成员,已知在胚胎发育中发挥重要作用。最近的研究表明,HoxB9参与癌症进展。然而,关于HoxB9在抑制口腔鳞状细胞癌(OSCC)进展中的作用及潜在机制知之甚少。在本研究中,我们使用免疫组织化学染色证明HoxB9在OSCC细胞中过表达,并发现HoxB9的高水平与OSCC患者较短的总生存期显著相关。功能研究表明,使用RNA干扰敲低OSCC细胞中的HoxB9可降低OSCC细胞的迁移和侵袭能力。我们的机制研究表明,HoxB9可通过TGF-β1/Smad2/Slug信号通路靶向EMT来刺激OSCC细胞的迁移和侵袭。总的来说,这些发现表明HoxB9通过促进EMT在OSCC进展中发挥重要作用。