Phosphorylated vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein is localized on mitotic spindles of the gastric cancer cell line SGC-7901.

ABSTRACT

AIM: To elucidate the localization of vasodilator stimulated phosphoprotein (VASP), a cytoskeletal organizing protein and a substrate of protein kinases A and G in mitotic gastric cancer cells. METHODS: Immunofluorescence microscopy was used to observe the localization of alpha-tubulin, VASP and Ser157 phosphorylated VASP (p-VASP) in interphase of mitotic gastric cancer of the cell line SGC-7901. RESULTS: Immunofluorescence staining showed that p-VASP but not VASP was co-localized with alpha-tubulin on spindle poles and fibers in prophase, metaphase and anaphase of the mitotic process of the gastric cancer cell line SGC-7901. H89, an inhibitor of protein kinases A and G, had no effect on the localization of p-VASP on the spindles. CONCLUSION: VASP may play a role in assembling and stabilizing the mitotic spindle of cells, and phosphorylation of the protein is the precondition for it to exert this function.