Higher autocrine motility factor/glucose-6-phosphate isomerase expression is associated with tumorigenesis and poorer prognosis in gastric cancer.

BACKGROUND

Glucose-6-phosphate isomerase (GPI) is a glycolytic-related enzyme that inter-converts glucose-6-phosphate and fructose-6-phosphate in the cytoplasm. This protein is also secreted into the extracellular matrix by cancer cells and is, therefore, also called autocrine motility factor (AMF).

METHODS

To clarify the roles of AMF/GPI in gastric cancer (GC), we collected 335 GC tissues and the corresponding adjacent noncancerous tissues, performed immunohistochemical studies, and analyzed the relationship between AMF/GPI expression and the patients' clinicopathologic features.

RESULTS

AMF/GPI expression was found to be significantly higher in the GC group than in the corresponding noncancerous tissue group (<0.001). Additionally, AMF/GPI expression positively associated with a higher TNM stage and poorer prognosis in patients. Through Kaplan-Meier analysis and according to the Oncomine database, we found that AMF/GPI was overexpressed in GC tissues compared to normal mucosa, and the patients with higher AMF/GPI expression had poorer outcomes. We used AMF/GPI-silenced GC cell lines to observe how changes in AMP/GPI affect cellular phenotypes. AMF/GPI knockdown suppressed proliferation, migration, invasion, and glycolysis, and induced apoptosis in GC cells.

CONCLUSION

These findings suggest that AMF/GPI overexpression is involved in carcinogenesis and promotes the aggressive phenotypes of GC cells.