Objective: Our study aimed to investigate the interaction between peroxiredoxin 1 (Prx1) and forkhead box O3 (FOXO3) and to explore the role of PI3K/AKT pathway in the development of pancreatic cancer.
Material and methods: Human pancreatic normal cells HPDE6-C7 and pancreatic cancer cells PANC-1 were randomly divided into control group, Prx1-silencing (si-Prx1) group, Prx1/FOXO3 dual-silencing (si-Prx1/FOXO3) group, and negative control group. Cell proliferation assay, clone formation assay, and cell apoptosis assay were performed to investigate the effects of Prx1 silencing and FOXO3 silencing on the proliferation and apoptosis ability of pancreatic cancer cells. qRT-PCR and Western blot were performed to study the Prx1 and FOXO3 mRNA in the two cells and FOXO3 protein expression in PANC-1 cells.
Result: We found Prx1 silencing could inhibit growth and promote apoptosis of PANC-1 cells. And Prx1 silencing could decrease the Prx1 mRNA level and increase FOXO3 mRNA level. To further explore the role of Prx1 in PI3K/AKT, we study the cell proliferation and apoptosis ability after adding the PI3K inhibitor and PI3K activator. We observed that PI3K inhibitor could inhibit tumor cell growth and promote cell apoptosis. And PI3K inhibitor also downregulated Prx1 protein expression.
Conclusion: We concluded that the Prx1 silencing inhibited the growth and promoted apoptosis of pancreatic cancer cells via modulation of PI3K/AKT pathway by targeting FOXO3  gene.
Keywords: Prx1, PI3K/AKT pathway, proliferation, apoptosis