Folate receptor alpha is associated with cervical carcinogenesis and regulates cervical cancer cells growth by activating ERK1/2/c-Fos/c-Jun

Chunliang Liu, Ling Ding, Lixia Bai, Xiao Chen, Huijie Kang, Lifang Hou, Jintao Wang*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

32 Scopus citations

Abstract

Folate receptor alpha (FRα) is over-expressed in numerous epithelial malignancies, however, the association between FRα and cervical cancer remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of FRα on cervical cancer and its regulation of the ERK signaling pathway. In this case-control study, moderate/strong expression of FRα, phosphorylated ERK1/2 (p-ERK1/2), p-c-Fos, and p-c-Jun proteins was increased with the progressive severity of cervix lesions (P < 0.05). Moreover, the expression levels of p-ERK1/2, p-c-Fos, and p-c-Jun proteins was positively correlated with those of FRα protein in cervical squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) group (P < 0.05). In vitro experiment indicated down-regulation of FRα by siRNA suppressed cell proliferation, promoted cell apoptosis, induced cell cycle arrest at G0/G1 phase, and reduced expression of p-ERK1/2, p-c-Fos, and p-c-Jun proteins. The results suggest that FRα is associated with the progression of cervical cancer and regulates cervical cancer cells growth through phosphorylating ERK1/2, c-Fos, and c-Jun, which are key factors of the ERK signaling pathway. Therefore, FRα may be an effective target for early detection and therapy of cervical cancer.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1083-1091
Number of pages9
JournalBiochemical and Biophysical Research Communications
Volume491
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 30 2017

Keywords

  • Cervical cancer
  • ERK1/2
  • Folate receptor alpha
  • c-Fos
  • c-Jun

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Biophysics
  • Biochemistry
  • Molecular Biology
  • Cell Biology

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