Previous research has demonstrated a correlation between elevated expression of Fos-related antigen 1 (FRA-1) and malignancies. Nevertheless, the role of FRA-1 in Helicobacter pylori infected gastric cancer cells remains vague. Our study aims to investigate whether FRA-1 plays a role in the apoptosis of MGC-803 induced by H. pylori and possible mechanisms. MGC-803 cells were used in vitro to establish a cell model of H. pylori infection. After stimulation with H. pylori, the expression of FRA-1 was increased in MGC-803 cells. H. pylori infection promoted the apoptosis of MGC-803 cells, and led to cell cycle arrest and increased oxidative stress levels. Furthermore, the knockdown of FRA-1 reinforced these changes. H. pylori decreased the expression of Bcl2, Caspase3 and Caspase9, while increased the level of BAX, Cleaved-Caspase3 and Cleaved-Caspase9; in addition, it led to the decrease of major proteins in Ras/Erk and PI3K/AKT signaling pathway. As expected, these changes were augmented by FRA-1 knockdown. Our results demonstrated that high expression of FRA-1 induced by H. pylori suppresses apoptosis in MGC-803 cells which may be regulated by oxidative stress and cycle arrest through caspase family, Ras/Erk and PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.
Keywords: Apoptosis; Cell cycle; FRA-1; Gastric cancer; Helicobacter pylori; Ras/Erk/PI3K/AKT.