Overexpression of U three protein 14a (UTP14a) is associated with poor prognosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Abstract

Background Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is one of the most aggressive and lethal cancers lacking valid prognostic biomarkers. As an essential component of a large ribonucleoprotein complex, U Three Protein 14a (UTP14a) might play important roles in human tumorigenesis. However, the clinical significance and functions of UTP14a in ESCC still remain unclear. Methods From September 2009 to August 2015, 210 patients with ESCC of the thoracic esophagus underwent thoracoscopic esophagectomy in our institute. The corresponding 210 tissue samples and 30 cancer‐distant mucosa (CDM) samples were tested for UTP14a expression by immunohistochemical staining. The long‐term survival was analyzed by the Kaplan–Meier method and Cox proportional hazards regression analyses. CCK8, cell colony formation, cell cycle, apoptosis, cell invasion, and wound healing assays were carried out with ECA109 cells to evaluate the effects of UTP14a on ESCC in vitro. Results UTP14a was positively expressed in 88.1% (185/210) of the ESCC samples. UTP14a expression in ESCC was significantly higher than in CDM, as further confirmed by Western blot analysis. High expression of UTP14a in ESCC correlated significantly with tumor invasive depth (pT stage), which predicts poor disease‐free survival and disease‐specific survival, as indicated by the log‐rank test and Cox proportional hazards regression analysis. Additionally, our in vitro experiments further demonstrated that knockdown of UTP14a inhibits cell proliferation and invasion in ECA109 cells. Conclusions Our results suggest that UTP14a is aberrantly expressed in ESCC, plays a critical role in cancer progression and could be a potential prognosis predictor of ESCC.

U three protein 14a (UTP14A) promotes tumour proliferation and metastasis via the PERK/eIF2a/GRP78 signalling pathway in oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma

“…The expression of UTP14A is associated with poor prognosis in human hepatocellular carcinoma and colorectal carcinoma 7 , 8 . Our previous study also demonstrated that higher expression of UTP14A is a predictor of poor prognosis in patients with ESCC 9 . However, the mechanism of how UTP14A affects the prognosis of patients with oesophageal cancer remains unclear.…”

“…ESCC cells were transfected with the shRNA or plasmids. After 48 h of transfection, cells were harvested and stained with annexin V and 7-aminoactinomycin D (7-AAD) and then subjected to flow cytometric analysis 9 .…”

“…The invasion assay was performed as described previously 9 . Cells were transfected with the UTP14A expression plasmid or shRNA targeting UTP14A (GeneChem Co., Shanghai, China) using Lipofectamine 3000 (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA, USA) according to the manufacturer's instructions.…”

“…At 48 h post transfection, the cells were subjected to an invasion assay. After 24 h of cell seeding, the cells that had invaded the lower side of the chamber were fixed with 2.5% glutaraldehyde, stained with 0.1% crystal violet, and counted 9 .…”

Identification and Validation of an RNA Binding Proteins-Associated Prognostic Signature for Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer

“…Abnormality in RNA splicing have been associated with tumor initiation and progression [26,27]. The ribonucleoprotein complex involved in initiation, progression and prognosis of cancer [28,29]. In addition, in cancer cells, lncRNA were aberrantly expressed as classical oncogenes or tumor suppressors and correlate with the altered metabolism [30,31].…”