Slug Inhibits Proliferation of Cervical Cancer Cells Through Down-regulating CDH3/β-catenin/C-myc Expression

Objective To investigate the related mechanism of Slug inhibiting the proliferation of cervical cancer cell through CDH3/β-catenin/C-myc.

Methods SiHa cells with stable Slug expression were screened. The expression of CDH3 in Slug-overexpressed SiHa cell was detected by RNA-sequence, Real-time PCR, Western blot and immunocytochemistry. The expression of CDH3 in SiHa and HeLa cells were detected by Western blot and immunocytochemistry. The protein level of CDH3 was up-regulated in HeLa cells or rescued in SiHa-Slug cells by transient transfection of CDH3 expression vector. The protein levels of β-catenin and C-myc were detected by Western blot, the cell growth was detected by cell counting and CCK-8 assays. Luciferase reporter assay and chromatin immunoprecipitation assay (ChIP) were performed to detect the effect of Slug on regulating the promoter region of CDH3.

Results SiHa cell line with stable Slug expression was successfully constructed. Slug overexpression inhibited CDH3 expression in SiHa cells. CDH3 promoted cell proliferation and up-regulated the protein level of β-catenin and C-myc in HeLa and SiHa-Slug cells. Slug could recognize and bind to the E-boxes in the CDH3 promoter region and inhibited the transcription of CDH3 in SiHa cells.

Conclusion Slug could inhibit the expression of β-catenin and C-myc by inhibiting CDH3 transcription in SiHa cells, and then attenuate the growth of SiHa cells.