Upregulation of Yin-Yang-1 Associates with Proliferation and Glutamine Metabolism in Esophageal Carcinoma

Can Luo; Xin Chen; Yuting Bai; Lei Xu; Shuqi Wang; Lihua Yao; Xiaolan Guo; Dongsheng Wang; Xiaowu Zhong

doi:10.1155/2022/9305081

Upregulation of Yin-Yang-1 Associates with Proliferation and Glutamine Metabolism in Esophageal Carcinoma

Int J Genomics. 2022 Mar 20:2022:9305081. doi: 10.1155/2022/9305081. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Can Luo^{1

2

3}, Xin Chen⁴, Yuting Bai¹, Lei Xu², Shuqi Wang¹, Lihua Yao¹, Xiaolan Guo¹, Dongsheng Wang^{5

6}, Xiaowu Zhong¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Clinical Laboratory, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, 637000 Sichuan, China.
² Translational Medicine Research Center, North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, 637000 Sichuan, China.
³ Department of Laboratory Medicine, North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, 637000 Sichuan, China.
⁴ Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, 637000 Sichuan, China.
⁵ University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, 610041 Sichuan, China.
⁶ Department of Clinical Laboratory, Sichuan Cancer Hospital & Institute, Chengdu, 610041 Sichuan, China.

Abstract

Objective: To investigate the expression of Yin-Yang-1 (YY1) in esophageal carcinoma (ESCA) and its effect on glutamine metabolism in ESCA.

Methods: The expression and roles of YY1 in ESCA were investigated using a series of bioinformatics databases and tools. The expression of YY1 between ESCA tissues with the corresponding adjacent tissues was validated using real-time PCR, western blot, and immunohistochemical staining method. Furthermore, the effects of YY1 on ESCC cell proliferation and migration were examined. The correlation between the YY1 and glutamine metabolism was evaluated by western blot.

Results: YY1 gene was highly conserved in evolution and upregulated in ESCA tissues and ESCC cell lines (ECA109 and TE-1). In addition, YY1 may affect the level of immune cell infiltration and promote tumor cell immune escape. Functional enrichment analysis found that YY1 involved in many biological processes, such as cell division and glutathione and glutamine metabolism. After siRNA knockdown of YY1 in ECA109 and TE-1, the proliferation and the migration of ECA109 and TE-1 were suppressed. The glutamine consumption and glutamate production were significantly decreased. The protein expression of alanine-, serine-, cysteine-preferring transporter 2 (ASCT2), glutaminase (GLS), and glutamate dehydrogenase (GLUD1) was significantly downregulated.

Conclusion: YY1 is highly expressed in ESCA and may promote glutamine metabolism of ESCC cells, indicating it may be as a diagnostic biomarker for ESCA.