The tumor promoting roles of HSP60 and HIF2α in gastric cancer cells

The roles of HSP60 and HIF2 alpha in diagnosis, prognosis, and prevention and treatment of various human cancers have been detected. However, the combined roles of HSP60 and HIF2 alpha on the prognosis of patients with gastric cancer remain unclear. In this work, we confirmed that the levels of HSP60 and HIF2 alpha messenger RNA (mRNA) and protein were higher in gastric cancer tissues than that in matched normal tissues by using real-time PCR and Western blot. Furthermore, we confirmed that inhibition of HSP60 or HIF2 alpha could induce apoptosis and inhibit cell mobility. Co-immunoprecipitation (co-IP) was performed to determine the interaction between HSP60 and HIF2 alpha. Lastly, we confirmed that knockdown of HSP60 or HIF2 alpha induced apoptosis in gastric cancer cells is negatively related to the MEK/ERK signaling in vitro. In summary, HSP60 or HIF2 alpha protein expression may be a predictive marker for the prognosis of the patients with gastric cancer. Targeting HSP60 and HIF2 alpha could be a future strategy to improve survival of gastric patients with poor prognosis.