Overexpression of activator of G-protein signaling 3 decreases the proliferation of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Abstract Background Activator of G-protein Signaling 3 (AGS3, also known as GPSM1), is related to cell cycle progression. We investigated the expression of AGS3 in human esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and the therapeutic effect of chemotherapy drugs. Methods Immunohistochemistry and Western blot analysis were performed for AGS3 in 85ESCC samples. The data were correlated with clinicopathological features. The univariate and multivariate survival analyses were also performed to determine its prognostic significance. The effect of overexpression of AGS3 on proliferation of esophageal carcinoma TE1 cells was analyzed by serum starvation. Results AGS3 was down regulated in ESCC as compared with the adjacent normal tissue. Low expression of AGS3 was associated with tumor grade ( P  = 0.002), and AGS3 was negatively correlated with proliferation marker Ki-67 ( P P  = 0.004), while in vitro , the expression of AGS3 was down regulated with release from serum starvation of TE1 cells. Conclusions This study shows that AGS3 is an important regulator of ESCC proliferation.