Protein kinase TTK promotes proliferation and migration and mediates epithelial-mesenchymal transition in human bladder cancer cells.

AIM: To investigate the expression level of TTK in bladder cancer, and its role in the proliferation and migration. To investigate the relationship between TTK and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). PATIENTS AND METHODS: We compared the expression level of TTK between human bladder cancer tissues and normal bladder epithelial tissues from 70 patients using immunohistochemistry, qRT-PCR and western blotting. Subsequently, we conducted cell viability and cell migration experiments to investigate the effect of TTK on bladder cancer cells. Furthermore, we used qRT-PCR to detect the biomarkers of EMT to examine the relationship between TTK and EMT. RESULTS: The expression level of TTK was significantly higher in bladder cancer tissues as compared to the adjacent noncancerous tissues (P < 0.001). The qRT-PCR, immunohistochemistry, and western blotting also showed the same trend. Furthermore, cell viability and cell migration assays showed that TTK promoted proliferation and migration of human bladder cancer cells, and mediated EMT. CONCLUSION: This study showed that high expression of TTK can promote proliferation and migration, and might mediate the EMT process in human bladder cancer cells.