XBP1s Acts as a Tumor Suppressor to Inhibit the EMT Process and Metastasis of Papillary Thyroid Cancer

• Main Authors: Yang W, Xu X, Xu M, Zhou J, Xi Z, Guo H, Ming J, Huang T
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dove Medical Press 2021-04-01
• Series: OncoTargets and Therapy
• Subjects: xbp1s; lymph node metastasis; papillary thyroid cancer; emt
• Online Access: https://www.dovepress.com/xbp1s-acts-as-a-tumor-suppressor-to-inhibit-the-emt-process-and-metast-peer-reviewed-article-OTT

Wen Yang,1,* Xia Xu,2,* Ming Xu,1 Jun Zhou,1 Zihan Xi,1 Hui Guo,1 Jie Ming,1 Tao Huang1 1Department of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Pathology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Tao Huang; Jie MingDepartment of Breast and Thyroid Surgery, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Jiefang Road No. 1277, Wuhan, Hubei Province, People’s Republic of ChinaTel [phone]; [phone]Fax [phone]Email [e-mail]; [e-mail]: Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) patients could obtain poor prognosis if they have lymph node metastasis, identification of informative and robust biomarkers for predicting cervical lymph node metastasis is critical for improving clinical decision-making and patient prognosis.Materials and Methods: In this study, we analyzed the expression of X box binding protein 1 spliced-form (XBP1s) in 41 PTC tissue samples and extended our findings using public databases, then we investigated how XBP1s’ contributed to PTC progression in vitro.Results: We found that XBP1s’ expression was lower in PTC patients with cervical lymph node metastasis than non-metastasis patients by immunohistochemical analysis. With publicly accessible dataset, we showed that the XBP1 transcription was significantly decreased in thyroid cancer (TC) tissues with lymph node metastasis as compared to that without lymph node metastasis. Moreover, we also found that XBP1 expression was significantly correlated with patients’ gender, T classification, lymph node metastasis and PTC stages, and low XBP1 expression was associated with poor diseases free survival (DFS). In vitro, XBP1s overexpression could inhibit the invasion, migration, and wound healing capacity of PTC cells. Mechanistically, overexpression of XBP1s could enhance the expression of classical epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers such as ZO-1 and E-cadherins, and downregulated N-cadherin in BCPAP cells.Conclusion: These findings suggest that XBP1s is a prognostic maker for thyroid carcinoma patients, and sustaining XBP1s expression might be a new strategy to control PTC progression.Keywords: XBP1s, lymph node metastasis, papillary thyroid cancer, EMT