| Summary: | <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>iASPP is a key inhibitor of tumour suppressor p53 and is found to be up-regulated in certain malignant conditions. The present study investigated the expression of iASPP in clinical lung cancer, a leading cancer type in the world, and the biological impact of this molecule on lung cancer cells.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>iASPP protein levels in lung cancer tissues were evaluated using an immunohistochemical method. <it>In vitro</it>, iASPP gene expression was suppressed with a lentvirus-mediated shRNA method and the biological impact after knocking down iASSP on lung cancer cell lines was investigated in connection with the p53 expression status.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We showed here that the expression of iASPP was significantly higher in lung cancer tissues compared with the adjacent normal tissues. iASPP shRNA treatment resulted in a down-regulation of iASPP in lung cancer cells. There was a subsequent reduction of cell proliferation of the two lung tumour cell lines A459 and 95D both of which had wild-type p53 expression. In contrast, reduction of iASPP in H1229 cells, a cell with little p53 expression, had no impact on its growth rate.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>iASPP regulates the proliferation and motility of lung cancer cells. This effect is intimately associated with the p53 pathway. Together with the pattern of the over-expression in clinical lung cancers, it is concluded that iASPP plays an pivotal role in the progression of lung cancer and is a potential target for lung cancer therapy.</p>
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