Gli1 promotes epithelial-mesenchymal transition and metastasis of non-small cell lung carcinoma by regulating snail transcriptional activity and stability

Metastasis is crucial for the mortality of non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) patients. The epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) plays a critical role in regulating tumor metastasis. Glioma-associated oncogene 1 (Gli1) is aberrantly active in a series of tumor tissues. However, the mo-lecular regulatory relationships between Gli1 and NSCLC metastasis have not yet been identified. Herein, we reported Gli1 promoted NSCLC metastasis. High Gli1 expression was associated with poor survival of NSCLC patients. Ectopic expression of Gli1 in low metastatic A549 and NCI-H460 cells enhanced their migration, invasion abilities and facilitated EMT process, whereas knock-down of Gli1 in high met-astatic NCI-H1299 and NCI-H1703 cells showed an opposite effect. Notably, Gli1 overexpression accel-erated the lung and liver metastasis of NSCLC in the intravenously injected metastasis model. Further research showed that Gli1 positively regulated Snail expression by binding to its promoter and enhancing

Automated summary

Gli1 promotes the metastasis of non-small cell lung carcinoma and is associated with poor patient survival.