CRIP1 promotes cell migration, invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition of cervical cancer by activating the Wnt/β‑catenin signaling pathway

Abstract

Cervical cancer (CC) is the third most common cancer and the fourth leading cause of malignancy-related mortality in women worldwide. In addition, epithelial–mesenchymal transition (EMT) has been generally studied in tumor metastasis researches in recent years. Cysteine-rich intestinal protein 1 (CRIP1) is differently expressed in human cancer cells. However, the role it plays in CC has not been revealed at present. Preliminary experiments have shown that CRIP1 had a higher expression in CC tissues, compared with adjacent noncancerous tissues. Real-time PCR and western blot were performed to analyze CRIP1 expression in CC cell lines. CRIP1 transient transfection vector and siRNA were constructed. Further analysis revealed the promotion effects of CRIP1 on the cell migration and invasion of CC in vitro (P < 0.01). In addition, western blot was performed to show that CRIP1 mediates EMT by means of EMT marker detection. The expression of CRIP1 and β‑catenin in CC tissues was analyzed by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Interestingly, CRIP1 and β‑catenin were both highly expressed in CC tissues (P < 0.01). Furthermore, CRIP1 increased the protein expression level of c-myc, cyclinD-1 and cytoplasmic β‑catenin, which are indicators for activating the Wnt/β‑catenin signaling pathway. In conclusion, CRIP1 promotes cell migration and invasion, mediates EMT and activates the Wnt/β‑catenin signaling pathway in CC.