Background: Integrin beta-like 1 (ITGBL1) was extensively demonstrated to contribute the metastasis and progression in a variety of cancers. However, its role of ITGBL1 in prostate cancer (PCa) is still not reported.
Methods: Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and western blot were performed to detect ITGBL1 expression in PCa tissues and cell lines. Immunohistochemical (IHC) staining of ITGBL1 in 174 PCa tissues was performed. The influence of ITGL1 expression in PCa cells epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT), migration and invasion was investigated. Notably, the possible mechanisms underlying the action of ITGBL1 in vivo and vitro assays were explored.
Results: We analyzed PCa dataset from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and found that ITGBL1 was upregulated in PCa tissues. Overexpression of ITGBL1 is positively associated with the progression and lymph node metastasis in PCa patients. Furthermore, upregulating ITGBL1 enhanced the invasion, migration abilities and EMT in PCa cells. Conversely, downregulating ITGBL1 exhibited an opposite effect. Our findings further demonstrated that ITGBL1 promoted invasion and migration via activating NF-κB signaling in PCa cells.
Conclusion: Therefore, our results identify a novel metastasis-related gene in PCa, which will help to develop a novel therapeutic strategy in metastatic PCa.
Keywords: ITGBL1, EMT, NF-κB signaling, lymph node metastasis and prostate cancer