Study on C/EBPα and FOXC2 expression in colon cancer lesions and preliminary analysis of their downstream target genes

摘要

Objective: To study the C/EBPα and FOXC2 expression in colon cancer lesions and exploretheir downstream target genes. Methods: Colon cancer specimens surgically removed inWeinan Central Hospital between March 2014 and February 2017 were selected, and adjacenttissue specimens more than 5cm from tumor lesion margin were selected as control. TheRNA in the clinical specimens was extracted and the mRNA expression of C/EBPα, FOXC2as well as endoplasmic reticulum stress molecules and epithelial-mesenchymal transitionmolecules were determined. Results: C/EBPα, Bax, Bak, GRP78, PERK and ATF6 mRNAexpression levels in colon cancer specimens were significantly lower than those in adjacentsamples while FOXC2, FAK, SphK1, N-cadherin and Vimentin mRNA expression levels weresignificantly higher than those in adjacent specimens; Bax, Bak, GRP78, PERK and ATF6mRNA expression levels in colon cancer specimens with high C/EBPα expression weresignificantly higher than those in colon cancer specimens with low C/EBPα expression; FAK,SphK1, N-cadherin and Vimentin mRNA expression levels in colon cancer specimens withhigh FOXC2 expression were significantly higher than those in colon cancer specimens withlow FOXC2 expression. Conclusion: Lowly expressed C/EBPα and highly expressed FOXC2in colon cancer lesions can inhibit the apoptosis mediated by endoplasmic reticulum stress andpromote the cell invasion mediated by epithelial-mesenchymal transition.