Early stages of melanoma can be treated by surgical resection of tumor, but there is still no effective treatment once it is progressed to metastatic phases. Although growing family of both metastasis promoting and metastasis suppressor genes have been reported, the molecular mechanisms governing melanoma metastatic cascade are still not completely understood. Therefore, defining the molecules that govern melanoma metastasis may aid the development of more effective therapeutic strategies for combating cancer. In the present study, we found that Serpin Peptidase Inhibitor 2, Serpine2 was involved in the metastasis of melanoma cells. The requirement of Serpine2 in the migration of melanoma cells was confirmed by gene silencing and over-expression in vitro. Moreover, down-regulation of Serpine2 expression strikingly inhibited melanoma cellular metastasis in vivo. Finally, we found that Serpine2 promotes melanoma metastasis through the glycogen synthesis kinase 3β, GSK-3β signaling pathway. To conclude, our findings suggested a novel mechanism underlying the metastasis of melanoma cells which might serve as a new intervention target for the treatment of melanoma.
Keywords: GSK-3β; Serpine2; invasion; melanoma; migration.