Objective: To investigate the role of urothelial carcinoma antigen 1 (UCA1) in regulation of invasion, migration and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) of trophoblast HTR-8/SVneo cells and its association with tubal pregnancy.
Methods: Cultured HTR- 8/SVneo cells stimulated with interleukin-6 (IL-6) were examined for changes in UCA1 expression and cell migration ability using qRT-PCR and scratch assay, respectively. A HTR-8/SVneo cell model with UCA1 silencing was constructed by transient transfection, and the migration and invasion abilities of the cells were assessed using Scratch assay and Transwell assay; qRT-PCR and Western blotting were performed to detect the mRNA and protein expression levels of EMT markers.
Results: HTR-8/SVneo cells stimulated with IL-6 exhibited significantly increased migration ability and up-regulated expression of UCA1 (P < 0.01). UCA1 silencing obviously suppressed migration and invasion abilities of HTR-8/SVneo cells (P < 0.01), significantly up-regulated the mRNA and protein expressions of EMT epithelial marker E-cadherin (P < 0.01), and down-regulated the expressions of the mesenchymal markers integrin β3, vimentin and N-cadherin (P < 0.05).
Conclusion: UCA1 may be a key gene that promotes the occurrence of tubal pregnancy and thus provides a new therapeutic target for tubal pregnancy.
目的: 研究尿路上皮癌抗原1（UCA1）对滋养细胞（HTR-8/SVneo）侵袭和迁移能力及上皮-间质转化（EMT）特性的影响，探索UCA1在输卵管妊娠（TP）发生发展过程中的作用及机制。
方法: 实验设为空白对照组及IL-6刺激组，采用qRT-PCR检测滋养细胞UCA1表达，划痕实验检测细胞迁移功能；通过瞬时转染构建HTR-8/SVneo细胞UCA1沉默细胞模型，细胞设为空白对照组及UCA1沉默组，分别采用划痕实验和transwell侵袭实验、qRT-PCR及Western blot实验检测UCA1对HTR-8/SVneo细胞迁移、侵袭能力及EMT标志物表达水平的影响。
结果: IL-6干预后HTR-8/SVneo细胞迁移距离增加，UCA1表达显著上调（P < 0.01）；沉默UCA1后HTR-8/SVneo细胞UCA1表达明显下调，迁移距离明显缩短、穿膜细胞个数明显减少（P < 0.01），EMT上皮标志物E-cadherin mRNA表达显著上调（P < 0.01），间质标志物integrin β3、Vimentin、N-cadherin mRNA表达下调（P < 0.01、P < 0.05、P < 0.01）；EMT上皮标志物E-cadherin蛋白表达上调（P < 0.01），间质标志物integrin β3、Vimentin、N-cadherin蛋白表达下调（P < 0.01）。
结论: UCA1可能是促进TP发生发展的关键基因，有望成为该疾病新的治疗靶点。
Keywords: epithelial-mesenchymal transition; invasion; migration; tubal pregnancy; urothelial carcinoma antigen 1.