Gfi-1 promotes proliferation of human cervical carcinoma via targeting of FBW7 ubiquitin ligase expression

Abstract

Hongbing Cai,1–3 Fan Zhang,1–3 Zhen Li1–3 1Department of Gynecological Oncology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, 2Hubei Clinical Cancer Study Center, 3Hubei Key Laboratory of Tumor Biological Behaviors, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China Background: The independent growth factor 1 (Gfi-1) is a transcription factor essential for several diverse hematopoietic functions and developments. However, the role and molecular mechanism of Gfi-1 in the development and progression of cervical cancer remains unclear. Purpose: The present study investigates the relation of expression of Gfi-1 with prognoses in patients with cervical cancer.Methods: We used Western blot and reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and the inhibition of proliferation and metastasis of cervical cancer cells in vitro. Results: This study confirms that the expression of Gfi-1 in cervical cancer tissues was higher than that in adjacent normal tissues. The level of Gfi-1 mRNA in human cervical cancer tissues was significantly higher than that in normal tissues adjacent to cancer. Furthermore, overexpression of Gfi-1 promoted cell proliferation, colony formation, and migration of cervical cancer cells. The increased expression of Gfi-1 promotes the proliferation of cervical cancer cells targeting the tumor suppressor F-box and WD repeat domain containing 7 (FBW7). Clinically, our data suggest that overexpression of Gfi-1 is associated with poor prognosis in patients with cervical cancer. In a tumor xenograft model, knockdown of Gfi-1 inhibited the tumor growth of Hela cells in vivo. Conclusion: Our results reveal that Gfi-1 plays an important role in cervical cancer and Gfi-1/FBW7 axis serves as a potential therapeutic target for cervical cancer. Keywords: cervical cancer, Gfi-1, proliferation, FBW7

Keywords

• Cervical cancer
• Gfi-1
• proliferation
• FBW7