Objective: To investigate the expression of profilin 2 (PFN2) in gastric cancer and assess its potential value as a novel prognostic indicator and a therapeutic target.
Methods: We collected gastric cancer and paired adjacent tissues from 100 patients for immunohistochemical detection of PFN2 expression. According to the expression level of PFN2, the patients were divided into two groups with high (46 cases) and low (48 cases) PNF2 expression in cancer tissues, and also into two groups with high (26 cases) and low (49 cases) PNF2 expression in adjacent tissues. Chi-square test, Spearman correlation and KaplanMeier survival analysis were used to analyze the relationship between PFN2 protein expression level and the patients' clinical parameters. We also tested the effects of PFN2 knockdown and overexpression on the proliferation and migration of MKN-45 cells using Transwell assay and CCK-8 assay.
Results: The expression of PFN2 protein was significantly higher in gastric cancer tissues than in adjacent tissues (P < 0.01). PFN2 expression was positively correlated with M-stage of gastric cancer and VEGFR expression in the tumor tissues (P < 0.01). A high expression of PFN2 protein was significantly correlated with a poor prognosis of gastric cancer patients (P < 0.01), and was an independent predictor of the prognosis of gastric cancer. In MKN-45 cells, the cells overexpressing PFN2 showed significantly stronger proliferation and migration abilities than those with PFN2 knockdown (P < 0.001).
Conclusion: PFN2 protein is highly expressed in gastric cancer tissues to promote the proliferation and migration of the tumor cells. PFN2 may serve as a potential diagnostic marker, a prognostic indicator and a therapeutic target for gastric cancer.
目的: 研究PFN2作为胃癌新的预后评价指标及作为胃癌治疗全新靶点的潜力。
方法: 组织层面上，应用免疫组织化学检测100例胃癌组织及其癌旁组织中PFN2蛋白表达水平；根据PFN2表达量，将研究对象分为癌组织中PNF2高表达组（46例）、低表达（48例）组，以及癌旁组织中PFN2高表达组（26例）、低表达（49例）组；采用χ2检验、Spearman相关性以及Kaplan-Meier生存分析法，分析PFN2蛋白表达水平与患者的临床参数之间关系；细胞功能上，敲低MKN-45细胞中PFN2，将其分为controlsiRNA组与PFN2-siRNA组；过表达MKN-45细胞中PFN2，将其分为control-vector组与PFN2-vector组，选取Transwell实验、CCK-8实验检测PFN2对胃癌MKN-45细胞增殖及迁移影响。
结果: 在胃癌组织中PFN2蛋白表达高于癌旁组织（P < 0.01）；PFN2蛋白的表达水平和胃癌病人的M分期显著正相关（P < 0.05）；在胃癌组织中，PFN2表达和VEGFR表达呈正相关关系（P < 0.01）；PFN2蛋白高表达的胃癌患者预后更差（P < 0.01），并且是胃癌预后的独立预测因子（P < 0.05）；MKN-45细胞中高表达PFN2组较低表达组增殖、迁移能力更强（P < 0.001）。
结论: PFN2蛋白在胃癌组织中高表达，并促进人胃癌MKN-45细胞的增殖、迁移。
Keywords: MKN-45 cells; gastric cancer; profilin 2.