Enah overexpression is correlated with poor survival and aggressive phenotype in gastric cancer

Cell Death Dis. 2018 Sep 24;9(10):998. doi: 10.1038/s41419-018-1031-x.

Abstract

Enabled homolog (Enah), which is a member of the Ena/VASP family that also includes VASP (vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein) and Ena/VASP like, is a mammalian ortholog of Drosophila Enabled (Ena). An increasing number of studies demonstrated Enah overexpression is involved in human colorectal carcinomas, breast cancers and hepatocellular carcinoma. However, the significance of Enah expression in gastric cancer (GC) is poorly elucidated. Here, we demonstrate that Enah is upregulated in GC and associated with AJCC stage, depth of invasion and poor overall survival (OS). Knockdown of Enah inhibited GC cell proliferation and metastasis and vice versa. Further experiments suggested that p-Erk1/2, p-AKT, p-p65, Vimentin and Fibronectin were downregulated and E-cadherin was upregulated after Enah silencing, implicating altered functions in GC proliferation and metastasis. Thus, our study suggests that Enah is a harmful factor for GC and a novel target for GC treatment.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Apoptosis
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cell Movement
  • Cell Proliferation
  • Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition
  • Female
  • Gene Knockdown Techniques
  • Heterografts
  • Humans
  • Kaplan-Meier Estimate
  • MAP Kinase Signaling System
  • Male
  • Mice
  • Microfilament Proteins / genetics
  • Microfilament Proteins / metabolism*
  • Middle Aged
  • NF-kappa B / metabolism
  • Neoplasm Metastasis / physiopathology
  • Neoplasm Staging
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / metabolism
  • Stomach Neoplasms / metabolism*
  • Stomach Neoplasms / mortality
  • Stomach Neoplasms / pathology
  • Transfection

Substances

  • Enah protein, human
  • Microfilament Proteins
  • NF-kappa B
  • Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt