Downregulation of AHNAK2 inhibits cell cycle of lung adenocarcinoma cells by interacting with RUVBL1

Abstract

Background: Lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) is the leading cause of death among cancer diseases. The tumorigenic functions of AHNAK2 in LUAD have attracted more attention in recent years, while there are few studies which have reported its high molecular weight.

Methods: The mRNA-seq data of AHNAK2 and corresponding clinical data from UCSC Xena and GEO was analyzed. LUAD cell lines were transfected with sh-NC and sh-AHNAK2, and cell proliferation, migration and invasion were then detected by in vitro experiments. We performed RNA sequencing and mass spectrometry analysis to explore the downstream mechanism and interacting proteins of AHNAK2. Finally, western blot, cell cycle analysis and CO-IP were used to confirm our assumptions regarding previous experiments.

Results: Our study revealed that AHNAK2 expression was significantly higher in tumors than in normal lung tissues and higher AHNAK2 expression led to a poor prognosis, especially in patients with advanced tumors. AHNAK2 suppression via shRNA reduced the LUAD cell lines proliferation, migration and invasion and induced significant changes in DNA replication, NF-kappa B signaling pathway and cell cycle. AHNAK2 knockdown also caused G1/S phase cell cycle arrest, which could be attributed to the interaction of AHNAK2 and RUVBL1. In addition, the results from gene set enrichment analysis (GSEA) and RNA sequencing suggested that AHNAK2 probably plays a part in the mitotic cell cycle.

Conclusion: AHNAK2 promotes proliferation, migration and invasion in LUAD and regulates the cell cycle via the interaction with RUVBL1. More studies of AHNAK2 are still needed to reveal its upstream mechanism.

Keywords: AHNAK2; LUAD; RUVBL1; cell cycle.