Study on the effect and mechanism of NFKBIA on cervical cancer progress in vitro and in vivo.

Aim NFKBIA is frequently encountered. However, its expression and relevance of the proliferation, invasion, and migration in human cervical cancer (CC) remain unclear. The role and novel mechanism of NFKBIA in CC progression were investigated in this study. Methods We analyzed the expression of NFKBIA in CC and adjacent normal tissues and explored the proliferation, migration, and invasion of HeLa cells by treating with either wild-type NFKBIA plasmid or NFKBIA siRNA. Effect of NFKBIA on the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and the β-catenin-mediated transcription of target genes were evaluated subsequently. Results NFKBIA expression was lower in CC tissues than that of adjacent tissues. An obvious dysregulation of NFKBIA overexpression was revealed in CC cell proliferation, invasion, and migration, which differed from the effect of knockdown NFKBIA. NFKBIA overexpression facilitated the expression of both phosphorylated β-catenin and E-cadherin protein. It inhibited the expression of vimentin, TWIST, as well as downstream targets of β-catenin including c-MYC, TCF-4 and MMP14. Conversely, NFKBIA silencing elevated the expression of c-MYC, TCF-4, and MMP14, and promoted the EMT in HeLa cells. Both endogenous and exogenous NFKBIA interacted with β-catenin. Moreover, β-catenin overexpression stemmed effects of NFKBIA on the proliferation, migration, and invasion of HeLa cells. By overexpressing NFKBIA in vivo, the volume and size of tumors were notably decreased, while no obvious alteration was found in mice body weight. Conclusion By inhibiting β-catenin-mediated transcription, NFKBIA functioning as a tumor suppressor might be introduced as a novel anti-metastatic agent for the treatment of targeted CC.