The Correlation Of Hif-1 Alpha And Transcription Factors Snail And E-Cadherin With Gastric Cancer Cell Proliferation And Emt

Objective: To investigate the correlation of hypoxia inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1 alpha), and transcription factors Snail and E-cadherin with gastric cancer cell proliferation and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Methods: SGC-7901 gastric cancer cells were cultured under normal both oxygen and hypoxia conditions. MTT assay was used to detect cell proliferation, Transwell assay was used to detect cell migration and invasion, Spearman correlation analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between HIF-1 alpha expression level and EMT-related molecule expression level, qPCR and Western blot were used to quantify HIF-1 alpha and EMT-related proteins Snail, E-cadherin mRNA and protein expression level. Results: Compared with normal gastric mucosal tissue, the expression of HIF-1 alpha and Snail protein in gastric cancer tissue was up-regulated, and the expression of E-cadherin protein was down-regulated. Compared with the normoxia group, the hypoxic group had increased cell migration, invasion and proliferation, significantly up-regulated HIF-1a and Snail mRNA and protein expression levels, and significantly down-regulated E-cadherin mRNA and protein expression levels. Spearman correlation analysis showed that HIF-1a was positively correlated with Snail mRNA and protein expression, while negatively correlated with E-cadherin mRNA and protein expression. Under normal oxygen conditions, down-regulation of HIF-1 alpha led to reduction of cell migration, invasion and proliferation, down-regulation of EMT-related protein Snail and up-regulation of E-cadherin. Down-regulation of HIF-1 alpha under hypoxia could offset cell changes caused by hypoxia. Conclusion: HIF1 alpha promotes gastric cancer cell proliferation and EMT by up-regulating Snail and down-regulating E-cadherin.