Recent reports suggest that histone demethylase KDM5A emerges as a new player in the development of drug resistance and thus increases the challenges of chemotherapy. Here, we explore the role of KDM5A in cell proliferation, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT)and its causal association with paclitaxel resistance in lung adenocarcinoma. Paclitaxel-resistant lung adenocarcinoma PTX-Calu-3 cells showed significantly higher IC50 value (7±0.176 µM) upon paclitaxel treatment than lung adenocarcinoma SK-LI-1 (3.6±0.005 nM), Calu-3 (4.3±0.015 nM), and A549 (4.5±0.106 nM) cells. We found that expression of KDM5A and P-glycoprotein (P-gp), which plays a critical role in the development of paclitaxel resistance, were significantly higher in PTX-Calu-3 cells compared to SK-LI-1, Calu-3, and A549 cells.. We observed a significant increase in the expression of mesenchymal markers N-cadherin and vimentin, and a concomitant decrease in expression of E-cadherin and α-catenin in PTX-Calu-3 compared to SK-LI-1, Calu-3, and A549 lung cancer cell lines. Transwell Boyden chamber and wound healing assays further demonstrated that a significantly higher number of PTX-Calu-3 cells were invasive and motile compared to SK-LI-1, Calu-3, and A549 cells, thus supporting the role of KDM5A in metastasis-associated processes. Additionally, a significantly higher expression of KDM5A was observed in lung adenocarcinoma patients’ samples compared with adjacent normal tissues as well as in PTX-Calu-3 cells compared toSK-LI-1, Calu-3, and A549 cells, as shown both with histochemistry and real time-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). In summary, these results suggest that KDM5A plays a key role in lung adenocarcinoma by promoting proliferation, EMT, and drug resistance to paclitaxel treatment.

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