The exosome-mediated PI3k/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway in cervical cancer

Wenyuan Zhang; Qing Zhou; Yunhai Wei; Miao Da; Chun Zhang; Jing Zhong; Jin Liu; Junjun Shen

The exosome-mediated PI3k/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway in cervical cancer

Int J Clin Exp Pathol. 2019 Jul 1;12(7):2474-2484. eCollection 2019.

Authors

Wenyuan Zhang¹, Qing Zhou², Yunhai Wei³, Miao Da⁴, Chun Zhang⁵, Jing Zhong⁶, Jin Liu⁷, Junjun Shen⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Gynaecology, Huzhou Central Hospital Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
² Department of Nursing, Huzhou Central Hospital Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
³ Department of Surgery, Huzhou Central Hospital Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
⁴ Medical College of Nursing, Huzhou University Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
⁵ Infectious Disease, Huzhou Central Hospital Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
⁶ Central Laboratory, Huzhou Central Hospital Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
⁷ Department of Pathology, Huzhou Central Hospital Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.
⁸ Department of Medical Oncology, Huzhou Central Hospital Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, China.

PMID: 31934074
PMCID: PMC6949546

Abstract

Background: Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer and one of the leading causes of cancer deaths among women worldwide.

Objective: To evaluate the clinical significance of the PI3k/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway in cancer tissues and exosomes extracted from vaginal secretions.

Methods: Immunohistochemical staining was used to detect the protein expression of PI3k, Akt, and mTOR in tissue samples from the control group, the CIN (cervical intraepithelial neoplasia) group, and the cervical cancer group. qPCR (quantitative PCR) was used to detect the expressions of PI3k, Akt, and mTOR in cervical cancer tissues, the corresponding adjacent tissues, and exosomes extracted from vaginal secretions.

Results: Compared with those of healthy people and CIN, the PI3k/Akt/mTOR protein levels in extracts from tissues were higher in the cervical cancer patients. The PI3k/Akt/mTOR gene and protein levels increased in the cervical cancer tissues with the increase in the degree of malignancy of the cancer. There was no significant difference in PI3k/Akt/mTOR gene expression between the cervical cancer tissues and the exosomes extracted from vaginal secretions, but both were significantly higher than the expressions of the corresponding adjacent tissues.

Conclusions: The PI3k/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway mediated by exosomes extracted from vaginal secretions may provide candidate diagnostic biomarkers or potential therapeutic targets.

Keywords: Akt; PI3k; cervical cancer; exosome; mTOR.