Background: CRTC2 is highly expressed in lung cancer and contributes to lung cancer pathogenesis; however, whether CRTC2 promotes lung cancer metastasis remains unknown. In the present study, we investigated the role of CRTC2 in lung cancer metastasis in vitro.
Methods: CRTC2 stable knockdown of lung cancer cell A549 was generated with small hairpin RNA and confirmed by quantitative reverse transcription-PCR and Western blot. Wound healing and invasion transwell assays were performed to explore migration and invasion activity, and Western blot was conducted to detect the expression of related proteins.
Results: Suppression of CRTC2 significantly inhibited A549 cell migration and invasion in vitro. Mechanistic studies showed that knockdown of CRTC2 greatly downregulated MMP2 and MMP9 expression. CRTC2 silencing remarkably suppressed epithelial-mesenchymal transition by modulating the expression of E-cadherin and vimentin. Furthermore, suppression of CRTC2 expression significantly reduced MAPK/c-Jun N-terminal kinase activity.
Conclusion: CRTC2 may promote A549 migration and invasion by modulation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase-mediated epithelial-mesenchymal transition and matrix metalloproteinase expression.
Keywords: CRTC2; MMPs; epithelial-mesenchymal transition; lung cancer; metastasis.
© 2017 The Authors. Thoracic Cancer published by China Lung Oncology Group and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.