Effects of SERPINE1 on proliferation, migration, invasion and apoptosis of colon cancer cells

Abstract

Objective To explore the expression of serine proteinase inhibitor family E member 1 (SERPINE1) in colon cancer and its effect on the malignant biological behaviors of colon cancer cells. Methods starBase and TISIDB databases were used to analyze the expression of SERPINE1 in 471 patients with colon cancer and 41 paracancerous tissues, and the relationships of its differential expression with clinical stage and prognostic survival were analyzed. The cancer specimens and paracancerous tissues from 5 patients with colon cancer were collected in No. 940 Hospital of Joint Logistic Support Force, and RT-qPCR and Western blotting were employed to detect the expression of SERPINE1 at mRNA and protein levels. After lentiviral vectors of SERPINE1 overexpression and interference were constructed and transfected into colon cancer RKO and LoVo cells. The experimental cells were assessed by RT-qPCR and Western blotting to verify the efficiency of overexpression and interference. Then cell proliferation, migration, invasion and apoptosis were evaluated by CCK-8 assay, clone formation test, Transwell test and Hoechst apoptotic nuclear staining, respectviely. Finally, Western blotting was applied to determine the effect of SERPINE1 on phosphatidyl-inositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/protein kinase B (AKT) signaling pathway. Results Database analysis showed that SERPINE1 was highly expressed, positively correlated with the clinical stage and negatively correlated with the overall survival in colon cancer patients (P < 0.05). Transfection of overexpression lentiviral vector resulted in enhanced cell proliferation, invasion and migration abilities while weakened apoptosis in RKO and LoVo cells. On the contrary, SERPINE1 interference reduced the abilities of cell proliferation, invasion and migration but improved cell apoptosis (P < 0.05). Western blotting showed that overexpression of SERPINE1 had no effect on the expression of PI3K and AKT, but increased the expression of p-PI3K and p-AKT, and SERPINE1 interference also had no change in PI3K and AKT expression and reduced the levels of their phosphorylation levels. Statistical differences were observed in relative quantitative analysis on the ratios of p-PI3K/PI3K and p-AKT/AKT (P < 0.05). Conclusion SERPINE1 is highly expressed, and correlated with clinical stage and prognosis of patients with colon cancer. Its overexpression promotes the proliferation, migration, invasion and inhibits apoptosis of colon cancer RKO and LoVo cells through PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.

Keywords

• colon cancer
• serpine1
• proliferation
• migration
• apoptosis