HSPC159 promotes proliferation and metastasis by inducing epithelial-mesenchymal transition and activating the PI3K/Akt pathway in breast cancer.

HSPC159 is a novel human galectin-related protein that has been shown to be involved in carcinogenesis. Little is known about HSPC159 expression and function in breast cancer. Herein we showed that HSPC159 was aberrantly expressed in both breast cancer cell lines and tumor tissues and that its expression was associated with poor prognosis of breast cancer patients. Using gain- and loss-of-function methods we found that HSPC159 enhanced breast cancer cell proliferation and metastasis in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, HSPC159 was found to induce epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and the F-actin polymerization process of breast cancer cells. Moreover, HSPC159 promoted proliferation, migration and invasion through activating the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in breast cancer. In conclusion, our findings showed that HSPC159 contributed to breast cancer progression through the PI3K/Akt pathway and might serve as a potential therapeutic target for the treatment of breast cancer.