WNT7B represses epithelial-mesenchymal transition and stem-like properties in bladder urothelial carcinoma

Abstract

BackgroundRecurrence and metastasis are the major problems of bladder urothelial carcinoma, which mainly attribute to tumor cell stemness, epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and chemoresistance. MethodsTCGA database was interrogated for gene mRNA expression in bladder urothelial carcinoma samples. CCLE database was interrogated for gene mRNA expression in bladder cancer cell lines. The correlation between two genes was analyzed by Pearson statistics. 37 human bladder urothelial carcinoma specimens were adopted for immunohistochemistry. Bladder cancer cells RT4, J82, and UM-UC-3 were used to carry out loss and gain of function studies. Kaplan-Meier method was performed to analyze the overall survival. FindingsWNT7B is downregulated in high-grade bladder urothelial carcinomas. Low WNT7B expression is associated with unfavorable prognosis. Loss and gain of function studies showed that WNT7B inhibits bladder urothelial carcinoma cell EMT, stem-like properties and chemoresistance. FZD5, a specific receptor for WNT7B, mediates WNT7B signaling. ELF3 is a downstream component of WNT7B signaling, which transcriptionally modulates NOTCH1, a tumor suppressor in bladder urothelial carcinoma. InterpretationThese data demonstrate that WNT7B/FZD5-ELF3-NOTCH1 signaling functions as a tumor-suppressing pathway in bladder urothelial carcinoma.