SKA2 Mediates Invasion and Metastasis in Human Breast Cancer Via EMT
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MOLECULAR MEDICINE REPORTS 19: 515-523, 2019 SKA2 mediates invasion and metastasis in human breast cancer via EMT ZHOUHUI REN1,2*, TONG YANG2*, PINGPING ZHANG3, KAITAI LIU4, WEIHONG LIU1 and PING WANG1 1Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Pathophysiology, Ningbo University School of Medicine, Ningbo, Zhejiang 315211; 2Department of Oncology Surgery, Ningbo No. 2 Hospital, Ningbo, Zhejiang 315010; 3Department of Gynaecology, Ningbo Women and Children's Hospital, Ningbo, Zhejiang 315012; 4Department of Oncology, Ningbo Medical Center, Li Huili Hospital, Ningbo, Zhejiang 315041, P.R. China Received August 13, 2017; Accepted October 2, 2018 DOI: 10.3892/mmr.2018.9623 Abstract. Spindle and kinetochore-associated protein 2 These results demonstrated that SKA2 may be associated with (SKA2) is essential for regulating the progression of mitosis. In breast cancer metastasis, and siSKA2 inhibited the invasion recent years, SKA2 upregulation has been detected in various and metastasis of breast cancer via translocation of E-cadherin human malignancies and the role of SKA2 in tumorigenesis from the cytoplasm to the nucleus. has received increasing attention. However, the expression and functional significance of SKA2 in breast cancer are Introduction not completely understood. To study the effects of SKA2 on breast cancer, the expression levels of SKA2 in breast cancer Spindle and kinetochore-associated (SKA)2 is located on tissues and cell lines were evaluated by western blotting, chromosome 17 of the human genome and has been identi- reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction fied as a conserved protein involved in the kinetochore and immunohistochemical staining. The results demonstrated complex (1,2). SKA2, together with its cofactors SKA1 and that SKA2 expression was increased in breast cancer tissues SKA3, constitute the SKA complex, which maintains the and cells, and SKA2 overexpression was associated with metaphase plate and/or spindle checkpoint silencing (3-5). clinical stage and lymph node metastasis. Functional investi- Checkpoint-dependent delays in a metaphase-like state are gations revealed that SKA2 knockdown in breast cancer cells prolonged by RNA interference-mediated SKA2 deple- significantly reduced migration and invasion, and resulted in tion (6,7). In addition, SKA2 has been reported to serve a the decreased expression levels of matrix metalloproteinase role in tumorigenesis. Aberrant patterns of SKA2 expression (MMP)2 and MMP9. Furthermore, the typical microtubule have been observed in several types of cancer, including lung arrangement was altered in SKA2 small interfering RNA cancer (8-10), kidney cancer (11), pancreatic cancer (12), gastric (siSKA2)-transfected cells. Reduced levels of SKA2 also cancer (13), glioma (14) and osteosarcoma (15,16). However, to downregulated the expression of epithelial-mesenchymal the best of our knowledge, the roles of SKA2 in breast cancer transition proteins, including fibronectin, N-cadherin and migration remain to be elucidated. vimentin, whereas there were no alterations in the protein Breast cancer is common in women worldwide. The first expression levels of E-cadherin. Conversely, upregulation highest incidence rates and second highest mortality rates of SKA2 decreased the expression levels of E-cadherin, have been demonstrated in the developed world (17,18). and increased N‑cadherin, fibronectin and vimentin levels. Furthermore, breast cancer is prone to metastasis and results Notably, it was demonstrated that E-cadherin was translocated in poor prognosis (19,20). Although marked progress has been from the cytoplasm to the nucleus in siSKA2-transfected cells. achieved in breast cancer therapy due to modern technology, unknown molecular mechanisms of metastasis remain and require further investigation. As a fundamental process of migration, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) serves a crucial role in breast cancer progression (21-24). However, the Correspondence to: Dr Ping Wang, Zhejiang Provincial Key specific regulatory mechanism mediating EMT and SKA2 in Laboratory of Pathophysiology, Ningbo University School of breast cancer progression remains to be investigated. In the Medicine, 818 Fenghua Road, Ningbo, Zhejiang 315211, P.R. China E-mail: [email protected] present study, it was demonstrated that SKA2 was upregulated in human �����������������������������������������������������breast����������������������������������������������� cancer cell lines and tissues����������������� by �������������reverse tran- *Contributed equally scription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and western blotting. Small interfering (si)SKA2 was used to Key words: spindle and kinetochore-associated protein 2, breast knockdown the expression of SKA2 in MCF-7 and T47D cells, cancer, invasion, metastasis, epithelial-mesenchymal transition the results demonstrated that decreasing the level of SKA2 inhibited the metastasis of the breast cancer cells by wound healing assay and cell invasion assays. However, although the 516 REN et al: SKA2 MEDIATES INVASION AND METASTASIS IN HUMAN BREAST CANCER results are promising, further studies are needed to confirm 12% SDS-PAGE and were transferred onto polyvinylidende this. Therefore, the present study further investigated whether di�uoride membranes (EMD Millipore, Billerica, MA, USA) SKA2 regulates metastasis via EMT-associated proteins and for immunoblotting. After blocking with 5% bovine serum matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2/9. The current study albumin (BSA; Beijing Solarbio Science & Technology aimed to determine the potential role of SKA2 in breast cancer Co., Ltd., Beijing, China) for 2 h at room temperature, the invasion, and its molecular mechanism. membranes were incubated with specific primary antibodies diluted in 1X Tris-buffered saline-0.1% Tween-20 overnight Patients and methods at 4˚C. The following antibodies were used: SKA2 (1:1,�00; cat. no. ab91551), MMP2 (1:1,500; cat. no. ab7033), MMP9 Patients. Tumor specimens and adjacent tissues were collected (1:1,500; cat. no. ab137651), vimentin (1:2,000; cat. no. ab8978), from patients who were diagnosed with breast cancer fibronectin (1:2,000; cat. no. ab2413; all Abcam, Cambridge, (stages I-IV) and underwent surgery at Ningbo No. 2 Hospital UK), N-cadherin (1:2,000; cat. no. 14215), E-cadherin (Ningbo, China) between March 2015 and August 2017. None (1:2,000; cat. no. 3195), β-actin (1:1,500; cat. no. 8457), of these patients underwent local or systemic therapy prior to Histone H3 (1:1,500; cat. no. 9728) and GAPDH (1:1,500; surgery. The clinical characteristics of these 160 patients are cat. no. 5174; all Cell Signaling Technology, Inc., Danvers, described in Table I. The present study was approved by the MA, USA). Subsequently, membranes were incubated for 1 h Research Ethics Committee of Ningbo No. 2 Hospital, and all at room temperature with goat anti-rabbit immunoglobulin patients provided written informed consent. (Ig)G-horseradish peroxidase (HRP) or goat anti-mouse IgG-HRP (1:5,000; cat. nos. BA1054/BA1050; Wuhan Boster Cell lines and transfection. Human breast cancer cell lines Biological Technology, Ltd., Wuhan, China). The protein bands MCF-7, T47D and MDA-MB-231, and normal MCF-10A cells on the membrane were visualized using a chemiluminescence were purchased from the American Type Culture Collection imaging system (LI-COR Biosciences, Lincoln, CA, USA) (Manassas, VA, USA). All cells were cultured in Dulbecco's and detected by chemiluminescence. Densitometric analysis modified Eagle's medium (DMEM; HyClone; GE Healthcare was performed by Tanon GIS version 4.1.2 software (Tanon Life Sciences, Logan, UT, USA) supplemented with 10% fetal Science and Technology Co., Ltd., Shanghai, China). bovine serum (FBS; ExCell Bio, Shanghai, China) at 37˚C in an incubator containing 5% CO2. RT‑qPCR. The mRNA expression levels of SKA2 were Cells ���������������������������������������������������(��������������������������������������������������MCF-7 and T47D������������������������������������) �����������������������������������were transfected with small inter- detected using RT‑qPCR. Brie�y, total RNA was isolated fering RNA (si)SKA2 (sense, 5'-GGC UGG AAU AUG AAA UCA using TRIzol® reagent (Invitrogen; Thermo Fisher Scientific, ATT-3' and antisense, 5'-UUG AUU UCA UAU UCC AGC CTT-3'), Inc.) and 1 µg total RNA was subjected to first-strand si-negative control (NC; sense, 5'-UCC UCC GAA CGU GUC ACG cDNA synthesis for 1� min at 37˚C and � sec at 8�˚C using UTT-3' and antisense, 5'-ACG UGA CAC GUU CGG AGA ATT-3') a reverse transcription kit (Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.). (both Shanghai GenePharma Co., Ltd., Shanghai, China), cDNA was amplified by RT-qPCR using SYBR-Green SKA2cDNA plasmid������������ (����������Ref������� ������Seq: M�������������������������001100595.1�������������, Atgg����������� cctcg- PCR Master Mix (Roche Applied Science, Madison, WI, gaggt ggggcacaat ttggagtcgc cggaaactcc gcggcgga ggctggacca USA) on a LightCycler® 480 system (9�˚C/10 min/1 cycle, gagtcgagtt ctcctcct gcaccaaagg gagccgccac tctggtgt ctaaaccgcc 9�˚C/10 sec/45 cycles, 60˚C/60 sec/45 cycles; Roche Applied tcggttccag gctgagt ctgatctgga ttacattcaa caggctgg aatatgaaat Science) and fold-changes were calculated by relative quanti- caagactaat tcctgatt cagcaagtga gctgtcacca ctga) or NC plasmid fication (2-∆∆Cq) (25). The primers used were as follows: SKA2 (both Shanghai Genechem Co., Ltd., Shanghai, China) using forward, 5'-CTG AAA CTA TGC TAA GTG GGG GAG-3', Lipofectamine®