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Down‐regulation of prostate stem cell antigen ( PSCA ) by Slug promotes metastasis in nasopharyngeal carcinoma
Author(s) -
Wang Li,
Sang Yi,
Tang Jianjun,
Zhang RuHua,
Luo Donghua,
Chen Mingyuan,
Deng WuGuo,
Kang Tiebang
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the journal of pathology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.964
H-Index - 184
eISSN - 1096-9896
pISSN - 0022-3417
DOI - 10.1002/path.4582
Subject(s) - nasopharyngeal carcinoma , cancer research , metastasis , epithelial–mesenchymal transition , cancer stem cell , gene knockdown , prostate cancer , epithelial cell adhesion molecule , stem cell , biology , medicine , cancer , cell culture , cell adhesion molecule , immunology , radiation therapy , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics
Distant metastasis and local recurrence are still the major causes for failure of treatment in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma ( NPC ), making it urgent to further elicit the molecular mechanisms of NPC metastasis. Using a gene microarray including transcription factors and known markers for cancer stem cells, prostate stem cell antigen ( PSCA ) was found to be significantly down‐regulated in metastatic NPC in lymph node, compared to its primary tumour, and in NPC cell lines with high metastatic ability compared to those with low metastatic ability. NPC patients with low PSCA expression had a consistently poor metastasis‐free survival ( p = 0.003). Knockdown and overexpression of PSCA respectively enhanced and impaired the migration and invasion in vitro and the lung metastasis in vivo of NPC cells. Mechanistically, the enhancement of NPC metastasis by knocking down PSCA probably involved epithelial–mesenchymal transition ( EMT ), by up‐regulating N‐cadherin and ZEB1 /2 and by activating RhoA . The down‐regulation of PSCA in NPC cells resulted directly from the binding of Slug to the PSCA promoter. PSCA may be a potential diagnostic marker and therapeutic target for patients with NPC . Copyright © 2015 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.