ABSTRACT
@#[Abstract] Objective: To investigate the effects of fibronectin Ⅲ domain containing protein 10 (FNDC10) on the proliferation, migration and invasion of breast cancer cells, and to primarily explore the mechanism. Methods: TCGA database was used to analyze the expression of FNDC10 in breast cancer tissues. The mRNA level of FNDC10 in normal immortalized breast cells (MCF-10A) and breast cancer cells (MCF-7, MDA-MB-231, BT549, MDA-MB-468, HCC1806, HCC1937) was detected by qPCR. MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells were transfected with FNDC10 siRNA or NC-siRNA for functional experiments. CCK-8 assay was used to detect the effect of FNDC10 on the proliferation of breast cancer cells. Colony forming assay was used to detect the colony forming ability of breast cancer cells. Transwell assay was used to detect the effect of FNDC10 on migration and invasion of breast cancer cells. WB was used to detect the changes of metastasis-related molecules and cell signaling pathways at protein level. Results:The expression of FNDC10 in breast cancer tissues was significantly higher than that in normal tissues (P<0.01), and the expression level of FNDC10 in breast cancer MCF-7 and MDA-MB-231 cells was higher than that in normal breast cells (P<0.01 or P<0.05). Knocking down FNDC10 expression inhibited the proliferation, migration and invasion of breast cancer cells (P<0.01 or P<0.05). The mechanism study showed that knockdown of FNDC10 expression inhibited STAT3 activation in breast cancer cells (P<0.01 or P<0.05) and enhanced the expression of EMT maker E-cadherin (P<0.05), leading to the suppression of EMT progression. Conclusion: FNDC10 promotes proliferation and EMT of breast cancer cells through activating STAT3 signaling pathway, thereby promoting the malignant progression of breast cancer.