Ribonuclease A Family Member 2 Promotes the Malignant Progression of Glioma Through the PI3K/Akt Signaling Pathway

Tingfeng Wu; Yongxiu Chen; Liying Yang; Xiangyu Wang; Ke'en Chen; Dianshuang Xu

doi:10.3389/fonc.2022.921083

Ribonuclease A Family Member 2 Promotes the Malignant Progression of Glioma Through the PI3K/Akt Signaling Pathway

Front Oncol. 2022 Jun 7:12:921083. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2022.921083. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Tingfeng Wu¹, Yongxiu Chen², Liying Yang³, Xiangyu Wang¹, Ke'en Chen¹, Dianshuang Xu¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurosurgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan University, Guangzhou, China.
² Gynecology Department, Guangdong Women and Children Hospital, Guangzhou, China.
³ Institute of Pathology, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.

Abstract

The treatment of patients with glioma still faces many difficulties. To further optimize treatment, it is necessary to identify more accurate markers as treatment targets and predict prognostic indicators. RNASE2 was identified as a differentially expressed gene (DEG) in glioma tissues using bioinformatics analysis. In glioma microarrays, 31.21% (54/173) and 68.79% (119/173) patients showed low and high RNASE2 protein expression levels, respectively. RNASE2 protein levels were considerably correlated with age, WHO grade, relapse, and death. Both mRNA and protein levels were associated with the overall survival of patients with glioma. To investigate the role of RNASE2, it was overexpressed or silenced in glioma cells. RNASE2 overexpression promoted cell proliferation, migration, and invasion. In addition, its overexpression promoted the growth of subcutaneous tumors and lung metastasis of glioma cells. Key protein levels in the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway were upregulated by RNASE2 overexpression. In contrast, RNASE2 knockdown had the opposite effects. Furthermore, LY294002 blocked the effects of RNASE2 on the cell function of glioma cells. In conclusion, RNASE2 is a novel marker associated with the diagnosis and prognosis of patients with glioma, and it promotes the malignant progression of gliomas through the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.

Keywords: PI3K/AKT; RNASE2; glioma; knockdown; overexpression.