Progesterone receptor inhibits the proliferation and invasion of endometrial cancer cells by up regulating Krüppel-like factor 9

Xiaofang Yan; Huilin Zhang; Jieqi Ke; Yongli Zhang; Chenyun Dai; Mei Zhu; Feizhou Jiang; Hongdi Zhu; Ling Zhang; Xin Zuo; Weiling Li; Xiufeng Yin; Xiaoping Wan

doi:10.21037/tcr.2020.03.53

Progesterone receptor inhibits the proliferation and invasion of endometrial cancer cells by up regulating Krüppel-like factor 9

Transl Cancer Res. 2020 Apr;9(4):2220-2230. doi: 10.21037/tcr.2020.03.53.

Authors

Xiaofang Yan^#^{1

2}, Huilin Zhang^#^{1

3}, Jieqi Ke¹, Yongli Zhang⁴, Chenyun Dai⁵, Mei Zhu⁵, Feizhou Jiang⁶, Hongdi Zhu², Ling Zhang², Xin Zuo², Weiling Li², Xiufeng Yin², Xiaoping Wan^{1

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Shanghai General Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Shanghai 200000, China.
² Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Yixing People's Hospital, Yixing 214200, China.
³ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Women's Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital, Nanjing 210000, China.
⁴ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital, School of Medicine, Tongji University, Shanghai 200080, China.
⁵ Department of Translation Medicine, Shanghai First People's Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 210000, China.
⁶ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou 215000, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Background: Krüppel-like factor 9 (KLF9) is one of the most important members of the KLF family, and is abnormally expressed in many tumors. However, the detailed function of KLF9 in endometrial cancer (EC) was barely investigated.

Methods: In this study, a total of 52 paired EC tissues were recruited to detect the KLF9 expression. Then a serial of phenotypic experiments and mechanism researches were performed.

Results: The results showed that KLF9 expression was decreased in EC tissues, and the reduced expression of KLF9 is associated with highly metastatic capacity of EC cells. KLF9 could inhibit the proliferation and invasion of EC cells by inhibiting the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. Progesterone receptor (PR) could bind to KLF9 promoter and a positive correlation between KLF9 and PR expression was witnessed.

Conclusions: Taken together, the reduction of KLF9 induced by PR might participate in the development of EC and targeting KLF9 may provide a novel strategy for EC management.

Keywords: Endometrial carcinoma; Krüppel-like factor 9 (KLF9); invasion; progesterone receptor (PR); proliferation.