Up-regulated GRB7 protein in gastric cancer cells correlates with clinical properties and increases proliferation and stem cell properties

Yuan-Yuan Pei; Jian Ran; Lijuan Wen; Xiaoyi Liu; Li Xiang; Weiqiang Liu; Fengxiang Wei

doi:10.3389/fonc.2022.1054976

Up-regulated GRB7 protein in gastric cancer cells correlates with clinical properties and increases proliferation and stem cell properties

Front Oncol. 2023 Jan 4:12:1054976. doi: 10.3389/fonc.2022.1054976. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Yuan-Yuan Pei¹, Jian Ran¹, Lijuan Wen¹, Xiaoyi Liu¹, Li Xiang², Weiqiang Liu¹, Fengxiang Wei¹

Affiliations

¹ The Central Laboratory, Longgang District Maternity & Child Healthcare Hospital of Shenzhen City, Shenzhen, China.
² The Digestive Department, Longgang District People's Hospital of Shenzhen City, Shenzhen, China.

Abstract

Introduction: It has been reported that GRB7 is closely related to a variety of human solid tumors, but its role in gastric cancer has not been reported yet. The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression level and intracellular effects of GRB7 in human gastric cancer.

Methods: Real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR and Western blot were used to detect the expression of GRB7 in gastric cancer cell lines. The immunohistochemical staining and SPSS analysis verified the GRB7 protein expression. Stable gastric cancer cell lines, MTT experiments, clone formation experiments, cell cycle flow cytometry experiments, sphere formation experiments and lateral subpopulation cell sorting experiments were conducted to investigate the role of GRB7 in gastric cancer cells.

Results: We found that the expression of GRB7 in gastric cancer cell lines was higher than that of the corresponding normal gastric epithelial cells, and correspondingly higher in gastric cancer tissues than its paired adjacent tissues. GRB7 protein was expressed more highly in cancer tissues than in adjacent tissues. GRB7 protein expression levels were positively correlated with the clinical stage of gastric cancer patients, and negatively correlated with the survival prognosis of patients. GSEA analysis of GRB7 mRNA levels in gastric cancer tissues and normal gastric epithelial tissues from public databases showed that GRB7 may affect cell proliferation and related processes of intracellular stem cells. GRB7 can promote the proliferation of gastric cancer cells and is positively related to the self-renewal ability of gastric cancer stem cells.

Discussion: This study shows that GRB7 molecules highly expressed in gastric cancer tissues can promote the proliferation of gastric cancer cells and increase the proportion of gastric cancer stem cells, so it is expected to become a diagnostic molecule or potential therapeutic target for gastric cancer.

Keywords: GRB7 adaptor protein; clinical properties; gastric cancer; proliferation; stem cell.