Kruppel-like factor 4 (KLF-4) inhibits the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and proliferation of human endometrial carcinoma cells

Abstract

Kruppel-like factors (KLFs) are a group of transcriptional regulators, being tumor-suppressive in various types of cancers, but not clear in human endometrial carcinoma (EC). We investigated the KLF-4 expression in both mRNA and protein levels in 29 EC specimens with RT-qPCR and Western blotting methods, and then to determine its promotion to Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and proliferation of EC Ishikawa cells, via analyzing EMT-associated markers and via CCK-8 and colony forming assay. We found the downregulation of KLF-4 in the 29 EC specimens, correlating with the EC malignance. Moreover, we confirmed reduced levels of EMT and cell proliferation of Ishikawa cells post-KLF-4 overexpression. In conclusion, the significantly reduced KLF-4 correlated with the EC malignance. And the overexpressed KLF-4 promoted the EMT and proliferation of EC cells in vitro. The present study recognized the tumor suppressive role of KLF-4 in EC.

Chinese abstract

Kruppel 样因子 (KLFs) 是一组转录调节因子, 在各种癌症中对肿瘤是抑制的, 然而在人子宫内膜癌 (CE) 中的作用尚未可知。我们对29名子宫内膜癌患者标本采用实时荧光定量PCR和蛋白质印记法检测了KLF_4在mRNA和蛋白水平的表达, 通过对上皮-间质转化相关标志物进行分析以及CCK-8和集落形成实验, 最终证实了其促进上皮-间质转化和子宫内膜癌石川细胞系的增殖。我们发现29份子宫内膜癌标本中KLF_4 的降调节与子宫内膜癌恶性相关。此外, 我们发现KLF_4 的过度表达后上皮-间质转化水平下降, 石川细胞系细胞增殖。总之, KLF_4 的显著减少与子宫内膜癌恶性相关。并且KLF_4 的过度表达促进上皮-间质转化和体外子宫内膜癌细胞增殖。本研究证实了子宫内膜癌中KLF-4 肿瘤过度表达的作用。

Keywords:

• Endometrial carcinoma
• epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT)
• Kruppel-like factor 4 (KLF-4)
• proliferation

Declaration of interest

The authors declared no interest about the publication of the present study. The present study was supported by the grant from the Yantai Science and Technology Development Program (2009155-16).

Supplementary material available online