Germ cell-specific gene 2 accelerates cell cycle in epithelial ovarian cancer by inhibiting GSK3 α-p27 cascade

In this study, GSG2-knockdown cells and GSG2-overexpress cells were established through lentivirus-mediated transfection with Human ovarian cancer cells HO8910 and SKOV3. Knockdown of GSG2 inhibited cell proliferation and induced G2/M phase arrest in EOC. Interestingly, the expression of p27, a well-known regulator of the cell cycle showed a most significant increase after GSG2 knockdown. Further phosphorylation-protein array demonstrated the phosphorylation of GSK3 αSer21 decreased in GSG2-knockdown cells to the most extent. Notably, inhibiting GSK3α activity effectively rescued GSG2 knockdown’s suppression on cell cycle as well as p27 expression in EOC. Our study substantiates that GSG2 is able to phosphorylate GSK3α at Ser21 and then leads to the reduct ion of p27 expression, resulting in cell cycle acceleration and cell proliferation promotion. Thus, GSG2 may have the potential to become a promising target in EOC.
Source: Journal of Molecular Histology - Category: Laboratory Medicine Source Type: research