POM121 promotes the proliferation and metastasis of gastric cancer via PI3K/AKT/MYC pathway

Nuclear pore membrane protein 121 (POM121) is a part of the nuclear pore complex, which regulates intracellular signaling and maintains normal cellular functions. However, the role of POM121 in gastric cancer (GC) remains unclear. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction was performed to detect POM121 mRNA in 36 pairs of GC and adjacent non-tumor tissues. POM121 protein expression was determined by immunohistochemistry in 648 GC tissues and 121 normal gastric tissues. Connections between POM121 levels, clinicopathological param-eters, and the prognosis of GC patients were explored. The influence of POM121 on proliferation, migration, and invasion was detected in vitro and vivo. The mechanism underlying the involvement of POM121 in GC progression was demonstrated via bioinformatics analysis and Western blot. Both the mRNA and protein levels of POM121 in GC tissues were higher than those in normal gastric tissues. High POM121 expression in GC was associated with deep invasion, advanced distant metastases and TNM stage, and positive HER2 expression. A negative connection was found between POM121 expression and the overall survival (OS) of GC patients. Downregulation of POM121 inhib-ited the proliferation, clone formation, migration, and invasion of GC cells, and overexpression of POM121 showed the opposite trend. POM121 promoted the phosphorylation of PI3K/AKT pathway and increased the expression of MYC. In conclusion, this study suggested that POM121 has the potential to act as an independent prognostic factor for GC patients.

Automated summary

POM121 is overexpressed in gastric cancer tissues compared to normal gastric tissues and is associated with deep invasion, distant metastases, and TNM stage in gastric cancer patients. POM121 promotes proliferation, migration, and invasion of gastric cancer cells through the phosphorylation of the PI3K/AKT pathway and increased expression of MYC. These findings suggest that POM121 may serve as an independent prognostic factor for gastric cancer patients.