1. GLI1 overexpression promotes gastric cancer cell proliferation and migration and induces drug resistance by combining with the AKT-mTOR pathway
- Author
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Hui Zhang, Dongtao Shi, Diyuan Zhou, Xinguo Zhu, Kang Sun, Songbing He, Yizhou Yao, Shenghua Zhan, Guangting Wu, Kangjun Tian, Liang Sun, and Xinyu Shao
- Subjects
0301 basic medicine ,Male ,Cell Survival ,GLI1 ,Drug Resistance ,Mice, Nude ,RM1-950 ,Zinc Finger Protein GLI1 ,Hedgehog pathway ,Small hairpin RNA ,03 medical and health sciences ,Mice ,0302 clinical medicine ,In vivo ,Cell Movement ,Stomach Neoplasms ,Cell Line, Tumor ,medicine ,Animals ,Humans ,Viability assay ,Protein kinase B ,PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway ,Drug-resistance ,Cell Proliferation ,Pharmacology ,Mice, Inbred BALB C ,integumentary system ,biology ,Chemistry ,AKT ,TOR Serine-Threonine Kinases ,Cancer ,General Medicine ,Middle Aged ,medicine.disease ,Prognosis ,Hedgehog signaling pathway ,Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic ,030104 developmental biology ,030220 oncology & carcinogenesis ,biology.protein ,Cancer research ,Female ,Therapeutics. Pharmacology ,Gastric cancer ,Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt ,Signal Transduction - Abstract
Hedgehog (HH) pathway significantly affected the pathogenesis of Gastric cancer (GC), but the multiple uncanonical HH pathways that are mediated by Zinc Finger protein GLI1 (GLI1) are still unclear. In the present work, we evaluated GLI1 and p-AKT expression in GC using immunohistochemistry (IHC) analysis. GLI1 and AKT specific shRNA was transfected into GC cell lines to investigate the cross-regulation between HH pathway and AKT-mTOR pathway. The effect of GLI1 and p-AKT on proliferation, migration, and drug resistance were examined. Moreover, a mouse xenograft model of GC was established to verify the role of GLI1 and p-AKT in promoting drug sensitivity in vivo. Our results suggested the clinicopathological factors and prognosis by the differential expression of GLI1 and p-AKT in GC patients. GLI1 was activated by the AKT-mTOR pathway. Co-expression of GLI1 and p-AKT was associated with cell viability, migration, and drug resistance and indicated a poor prognosis in GC patients. Agents targeted against both GLI1 and p-AKT may reverse drug-resistance and achieve better inhibition than agents targeted against a single molecule. There was a significant correlation between the high expression of GLI1 and p-AKT in GC. Additionally, our study confirmed the activity of the AKT-mTOR-GLI1 axis, which provided a new viable field for GC treatment.
- Published
- 2018