PRUNE2 inhibits progression of colorectal cancer in vitro and in vivo

Ting Li; Silin Huang; Wei Yan; Yu Zhang; Qiang Guo

doi:10.3892/etm.2021.11092

PRUNE2 inhibits progression of colorectal cancer in vitro and in vivo

Exp Ther Med. 2022 Feb;23(2):169. doi: 10.3892/etm.2021.11092. Epub 2021 Dec 27.

Authors

Ting Li^{1

2

3

4}, Silin Huang^{4

5}, Wei Yan^{1

6}, Yu Zhang^{2

3}, Qiang Guo^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Environmental Science and Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, Yunnan 650500, P.R. China.
² Department of Gastroenterology, The First People's Hospital of Yunnan Province, Kunming, Yunnan 650032, P.R. China.
³ Department of Gastroenterology, The Affiliated Hospital of Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, Yunnan 650500, P.R. China.
⁴ Medical School, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, Yunnan 650500, P.R. China.
⁵ Department of Gastroenterology, South China Hospital, Health Science Center, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, Guangzhou 518116, P.R. China.
⁶ Faculty of Life Science and Technology, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, Yunnan 650500, P.R. China.

Abstract

Prune homolog 2 with BCH domain (PRUNE2) is associated with prostate cancer, neuroblastoma, glioblastoma and melanoma; however, the function of PRUNE2 in colorectal cancer (CRC) remains unknown. The present study aimed to evaluate the effects of PRUNE2 on the development of CRC. The biological function of PRUNE2 in CRC cell lines was investigated by using Cell Counting Kit-8, colony formation, flow cytometry and Transwell assay. Additionally, a mouse model was established to investigate the effect of PRUNE2 on metastasis of CRC cells. The expression levels of PRUNE2 were lower in CRC compared with adjacent normal tissue and this expression pattern was associated with poor relapse-free survival probability. PRUNE2 overexpression significantly decreased cell proliferation and invasion, increased cell apoptosis and arrested the cell cycle. Consistently, it increased the protein expression levels of pro-apoptosis genes and decreased the expression of antiapoptotic proteins. PRUNE2 knockdown had the opposite effects. Furthermore, PRUNE2 overexpression decreased the tumorigenicity of CRC cells. In conclusion, PRUNE2 decreased cell survival, proliferation, invasion and tumorigenicity and promoted apoptosis, suggesting that PRUNE2 may function as a tumor-suppressive gene in CRC.

Keywords: colorectal cancer; invasion; proliferation; prune homolog 2 with BCH domain; tumorigenicity.

Grants and funding

Funding: The present study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 81860522), Yunnan Health Training Project of High Level Talents (grant no. H-2018039), Joint Foundation of Kunming Medical University and Yunnan Provincial Science and Technology Department (grant nos. 202001AY070001-114 and 2019FE001-121), Internal Division of Yunnan Provincial Health Commission (grant no. 2018NS0263) and Clinical Medical Center of Yunnan Provincial Health Commission (grant no. 2020LCZXKF-XH03).