The six-transmembrane epithelial antigen of the prostate 1 (STEAP1) gene is associated with the development and progression of cancer. Here, researchers aimed to elucidate the role of STEAP1 in gastric cancer tumor growth and metastasis and its molecular mechanisms. The results showed that STEAP1 is overexpressed in gastric cancer tissues and cell lines. Univariate and Cox regression analyses showed that STEAP1 gene expression levels were associated with poor prognosis. Upregulation of STEAP1 increased cell proliferation, migration, and invasion, while knockdown of STEAP1 reduced these changes. These changes were mediated by activation of the AKT/FoxO1 pathway and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). In vivo animal studies demonstrated that knockdown of STEAP1 reduced subcutaneous and peritoneal tumor formation.
CCK-8 assay results showed that in SGC-7901 and MGC-803 cell lines, the absorbance in the STEAP1 knockdown group was lower than that in the control group at 48, 72, and 96 hours (Figure 1A). In STEAP1-overexpressing SGC-7901 and MGC-803 cell lines, the absorbance was higher at 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours than in the control group (Figure 1B). CCK-8 assay results suggest that STEAP1 can affect cell proliferation. In colony formation assays, the number of colonies in the STEAP1 knockdown group was lower than that in the control group (Figure 1C), whereas the number of colonies in the STEAP1 overexpression group was higher than that in the empty vector group (Figure 1D). The results of colony formation assays also demonstrated that STEAP1 can affect cell proliferation. Next, flow cytometry was used to assess the cell cycle. Results showed that in STEAP1 knockdown SGC-7901 and MGC-803 cells, the proportion of cells in the S phase decreased, while the proportions of cells in the G0/G1 and G2/M phases increased (Figure 1E). In SGC-7901 and MGC-803 cells overexpressing STEAP1, the proportion of cells in the S phase increased, while the proportions of cells in the G0/G1 and G2/M phases decreased (Figure 1F). Flow cytometry analysis indicated that the STEAP1 gene may affect cell proliferation by influencing the cell cycle.
Figure 1. Functional experiments related to cell proliferation in the SGC-7901 and MGC-803 cell lines. (Zhang Z, et al., 2020)