SPAG5 contributes to the progression of gastric cancer by upregulation of Survivin depend on activating the wnt/β-catenin pathway

The sperm-associated antigen 5 (SPAG5) plays a key role in controlling cellular processes, including cell cycle progression and proliferation. However, the role of SPAG5 in gastric cancer (GC) remains unclear. Herein, our study showed that upregulation of SPAG5 was detected frequently in GC tissues, and was associated with significantly worse survival in patients with GC. Multivariate analyses revealed that high SPAG5 expression was an independent predictive marker for the poor prognosis of GC patients. Further, SPAG5 knockdown notably inhibited the proliferation abilities of GC in vivo and in vitro. Moreover, our results indicate that SPAG5 promotes cell progression by increasing Survivin expression, which has been reported to control the progression of GC. Moreover, our data demonstrate that Survivin is crucial for SPAG5-mediated GC cell progression in vitro and in vivo. Mechanistically, we demonstrated that SPAG5 promotes the progression of GC via enhancing the Wnt/beta-catenin/Survivin axis. Collectively, our data suggest that SPAG5 plays a crucial oncogenic role in GC tumorigenesis, and we provide a novel evidence that SPAG5 may be serve as a prognostic and therapeutic target for GC patients.