Oncotarget

Research Papers:

Ulk1 over-expression in human gastric cancer is correlated with patients' T classification and cancer relapse

Min-Bin Chen _, Xiao-Zhi Ji, Yuan-Yuan Liu, Ping Zeng, Xin-Yu Xu, Rong Ma, Zheng-Dong Guo, Jian-Wei Lu and Ji-Feng Feng

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Oncotarget. 2017; 8:33704-33712. https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.16734

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Abstract

Min-Bin Chen1,*, Xiao-Zhi Ji2,3,*, Yuan-yuan Liu1, Ping Zeng1, Xin-Yu Xu4, Rong Ma5, Zheng-Dong Guo2,3, Jian-Wei Lu2,3 and Ji-Feng Feng2

1Department of Radiotherapy & Oncology, Kunshan First People’s Hospital Affiliated to Jiangsu University, Kunshan, Jiangsu Province, China

2Departments of Medical Oncology, Jiangsu Cancer Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Jiangsu Province Institute of Cancer, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China

3Xuzhou Medical University, Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, China

4Departments of Pathology, Jiangsu Cancer Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Jiangsu Province Institute of Cancer, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China

5Clinical Cancer Research Center, Jiangsu Cancer Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China

*These authors contributed equally to this work and should be considered co-first authors

Correspondence to:

Jian-Wei Lu, email: lujw@medmail.com.cn

Ji-Feng Feng, email: fjif@vip.sina.com

Keywords: gastric cancer, Ulk1, survival, T classification, cancer relapse

Received: February 12, 2017    Accepted: March 04, 2017    Published: March 31, 2017

ABSTRACT

Ulk1 is a key autophagy protein. Here, we tested expression and potential function of Ulk1 in human gastric cancer. Ulk1 mRNA and protein were significantly elevated in multiple fresh human gastric cancer tissues. Its level was relatively low in surrounding normal epithelial tissues. Ulk1 over-expression was also observed in several gastric cancer cell lines (AGS, HGC-27, and SNU601). Remarkably, Ulk1 knockdown by targeted-shRNA inhibited AGS gastric cancer cell survival and proliferation. On the other hand, exogenous Ulk1 over-expression could further promote AGS cell survival and proliferation. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining assay of 145 paraffin-embedded gastric cancer tissues showed that Ulk1 was over-expressed in majority (114 out of 145) of gastric cancer tissues. Importantly, high Ulk1 expression in gastric cancer was correlated with patients’ T classification and cancer relapse. Together, we demonstrate that Ulk1 over-expression in human gastric cancer is pro-survival. Its over-expression is associated with patients’ T classification and cancer relapse.


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