Effects of silencing PD-L1 expression on biological behaviors of gastric cancer cells / 国际肿瘤学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the effects of programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression on the biological behaviors of gastric cancer cell line MKN45.Methods:The PD-L1 gene of gastric cancer cell line MKN45 was silenced by RNA interference technique. MKN45 cells were divided into blank control group, si-NC group (transfected with siRNA-NC) and si-PD-L1 group (transfected with siRNA-PD-L1). Quantitative real-time PCR was used to detect the mRNA expressions of PD-L1 and epithelial-mesenchymal transformation (EMT)-related proteins E-cadherin, Vimentin and Snail in MKN45 cells, and Western blotting was used to detect the expression levels of PD-L1 protein in MKN45 cells of each group. Transwell migration test, Transwell invasion test and MTT test were used to detect the migration, invasion and adhesion abilities of MKN45 cells.Results:The relative expression levels of PD-L1 mRNA in the blank control group, si-NC group and si-PD-L1 group were 1.002±0.092, 1.005±0.121 and 0.237±0.017, respectively, with a statistically significant difference ( F=75.61, P<0.001). The protein expression levels of PD-L1 in the three groups were 0.944±0.028, 1.008±0.088 and 0.269±0.015, respectively, with a statistically significant difference ( F=172.99, P<0.001). The mRNA and protein expression levels of PD-L1 in the si-PD-L1 group were lower than those in the other two groups (all P<0.001), but there were no statistically significant differences between the blank control group and si-NC group (all P>0.05). The cell migration rates of the blank control group, si-NC group and si-PD-L1 group were (1.000±0.020)%, (1.012±0.084)% and (0.488±0.050)%, respectively, with a statistically significant difference ( F=80.73, P<0.001). The cell invasion rates of the three groups were (0.929±0.087)%, (0.924±0.208)% and (0.300±0.100)%, respectively, with a statistically significant difference ( F=19.37, P<0.001), and the cell adhesion rates of the three groups were (100.000±5.407)%, (99.280±4.845)% and (59.723±2.674)%, respectively, with a statistically significant difference ( F=79.87, P<0.001). Compared with the blank control group and si-NC group, the migration, invasion and adhesion abilities of MKN45 cells in the si-PD-L1 group decreased significantly (all P<0.001). The expression levels of E-cadherin mRNA of the three groups were 1.000±0.023, 0.981±0.051, 3.618±0.201, the expression levels of Vimentin mRNA were 1.000±0.043, 1.108±0.150, 0.328±0.011, the expression levels of Snail mRNA were 1.061±0.103, 1.090±0.110, 0.304±0.043, respectively, with statistically significant differences ( F=477.17, P<0.001; F=65.97, P<0.001; F=72.70, P<0.001). Compared with the blank control group and si-NC group, the mRNA expression levels of Vimentin and Snail of MKN45 cells in the si-PD-L1 group decreased, while the expression level of E-cadherin mRNA increased, with statistically significant differences (all P<0.001). Conclusion:Silencing the expression of PD-L1 can reduce the migration, invasion and adhesion abilities of MKN45 cells, and the mechanism may be related to the effect of PD-L1 on the EMT pathway of gastric cancer.