Decreased expression of TROAP suppresses cellular proliferation, migration and invasion in gastric cancer.

Trophinin associated protein (TROAP) is a cytoplasmic protein required for spindle assembly and cell invasion; however, its biological function in cancer remains to be elucidated. In the present study, by analyzing three independent datasets from the Oncomine database, it was identified that TROAP mRNA expression was upregulated in gastric cancer (GC) tissues compared with normal counterparts. Furthermore, elevated expression of TROAP was associated with poor survival in patients with GC, as predicted using Kaplan‑Meier analysis. TROAP was knocked down to verify its functional role in gastric cancer cell lines, SGC‑7901 and MGC80‑3. MTT assay was used to analyze cell proliferation. Cell cycle progression, and migration and invasion were determined using flow cytometry and Transwell assay, respectively. In vitro experiments demonstrated that knockdown of TROAP significantly suppressed cell proliferation, G1 to S cell cycle transition, and the migration and invasion ability of GC cells. The results of the present study suggest that TROAP is overexpressed in GC and serves an oncogenic role in gastric cancer by affecting cell proliferation and invasion.