Affiliations: [a] Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Stomatology, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China | [b] Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Oral Tissue Regeneration, Shandong, China | [c] Yantai Stomatological Hospital, Yantai, Shandong, China | [d] Department of Orthodontics, School of Stomatology, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, China
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Xuxia Wang, Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery, School of Stomatology, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, Shandong, China. Tel.: +86 531 88382840; Fax: +86 531 82950194; E-mail: wxx@sdu.edu.cn.
Abstract: BACKGROUND: Epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) is a complicated process that has been implicated in cancer progression and metastasis as well as the formation of many tissues and organs. BTB/POZ domain-containing protein 7 (BTBD7) is reported to regulate transcriptional factors and involved in the process of invasion and metastasis of some malignant tumors. Additionally, our preliminary studies have confirmed that BTBD7 expression was significantly correlated with Slug expression and poor prognosis of primary salivary adenoid cystic carcinoma (SACC). On this basis, this study further investigated function of BTBD7 in the invasion and metastasis of SACC in vitro, which may be a possible target of gene therapy in the future. METHODS: The expression of BTBD7 and Slug were both examined in SACC-LM and SACC-83 cell lines by immunofluorescence staining. High invasive SACC-LM cells were transfected with BTBD7 siRNA and the expression levels of BTBD7 and Slug were detected in both gene and protein levels by qRT-PCR and western blot analysis. Assays were performed to survey cell migration, invasion and proliferation capabilities with BTBD7 silencing. RESULTS: BTBD7 and Slug proteins were detected in SACC-LM and SACC-83 cell lines. BTBD7 silencing down-regulated the expression of Slug and MMP9 meanwhile up-regulated the expression of E-cadherin in SACC-LM cells, the migration and invasion abilities of cells were obviously suppressed but with no influence on cell proliferation. CONCLUSIONS: BTBD7 silencing inhibited EMT through regulation of Slug expression in SACC-LM cells and might act as a potential molecular target for gene therapy of SACC.
