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Overexpression of SMC4 predicts a poor prognosis in cervical cancer and facilitates cancer cell malignancy phenotype by activating NF-κB pathway

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Abstract

Cervical cancer is one of the leading female malignancy tumors worldwide. Structural maintenance of chromosomes 4 (SMC4), a member of the SMC family, is associated with cancer pathogenesis and progression. However, the role of SMC4 in cervical cancer is still unclear. In the study, SMC4 was increased in cervical cancer tissues compared with adjacent normal tissues. The SMC4 knockdown and overexpression were performed in cervical cancer cells. SMC4 knockdown inhibited cell proliferation, colony formation, cell migration and invasion, and suppressed epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Conversely, SMC4 overexpression exerted opposite effects. Moreover, SMC4 knockdown down-regulated stem cell markers, reduced the capacity of spheroid formation and inactivated NF-κB pathway. SMC4 overexpression contributed to stem cell markers, and stimulated spheroid formation and NF-κB pathway activation. Additionally, BAY11-7082 (an NF-κB inhibitor) alleviated the SMC4-mediated the effects in cervical cancer cells. In conclusion, these findings demonstrated that SMC4 overexpression facilitated the development of cervical cancer cells by activating NF-κBpathway, which provides a new therapeutic target for patients with cervical cancer.

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All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Suzhou Municipal Hospital, No. 16, Baita West Road, Gusu District, Suzhou, 215000, Jiangsu, China

    Hui He, Cui Zheng & Yunxian Tang

Authors
  1. Hui He
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  2. Cui Zheng
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  3. Yunxian Tang
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Contributions

HH designed the study, supervised the data collection, CZ analyzed the data, interpreted the data, YT prepare the manuscript for publication and reviewed the draft of the manuscript. All authors have read and approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Hui He.

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The authors state that there are no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Ethics approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the standards upheld by the Ethics Committee of Suzhou Municipal Hospital and with those of the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments for ethical research involving human subjects (Approval No. K-2016-GSKY20160401). All animal experiments were approved by the Ethics Committee of Suzhou Municipal Hospital for the use of animals and conducted in accordance with the National Institutes of Health Laboratory Animal Care and Use Guidelines (Approval No.201904-37).

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He, H., Zheng, C. & Tang, Y. Overexpression of SMC4 predicts a poor prognosis in cervical cancer and facilitates cancer cell malignancy phenotype by activating NF-κB pathway. Human Cell 34, 1888–1898 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13577-021-00603-2

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