Hypoxia ‑induced galectin‑3 enhances RhoA function to activate the motility of tumor cells in non‑small cell lung cancer.

Hypoxia‑induced galectin‑3 enhances RhoA function to activate the motility of tumor cells in non‑small cell lung cancer. Oncol Rep. 2018 Dec 07;: Authors: Kataoka Y, Ohshio Y, Teramoto K, Igarashi T, Asai T, Hanaoka J Abstract Galectin‑3 plays crucial roles in tumor progression. However, in non‑small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), it remains unclear whether the hypoxic tumor microenvironment enhances galectin‑3‑induced cell motility. We investigated galectin‑3 expression in NSCLC cells under hypoxia, and the possible molecular mechanisms by which galectin‑3 influences tumor aggressiveness. Galectin‑3 levels in NSCLC cell lines under hypoxia were assessed using reverse transcription PCR and western blotting. To clarify the role of endogenous galectin‑3, the effect of galectin‑3 knockdown in NSCLC cells was investigated using scratch and invasion assays. The expression and clinicopathological significance of galectin‑3 in 57 patients with pN0M0 invasive pulmonary adenocarcinoma were investigated by immunohistochemistry. Both mRNA and protein levels of galectin‑3 in the NSCLC cell lines A549 and LK‑2 were upregulated by hypoxia. As revealed by scratch and invasion assays, the cell migratory and invasive activities were significantly increased under hypoxia, but were reduced by galectin‑3 knockdown. Notably, addition of galectin‑3 to the media did not improve the cell motility impaired by galectin‑3 knockdo...
Source: Oncology Reports - Category: Cancer & Oncology Tags: Oncol Rep Source Type: research