High expression of SURF4 promotes migration,invasion and proliferation of gastric cancer cells by inhibiting tight junction proteins
WANG Ziliang
CHEN Xiaohua
YANG Jingjing
YAN Chen
ZHANG Zhizhi
HUANG Bingyi
ZHAO Meng
LIU Song
GE Sitang
ZUO Lugen
CHEN Deli
Abstract：Objective To study the impact of SURF4 expression level on long-term prognosis of gastric cancer(GC)and biological behaviors of GC cells.Methods SURF4 expression level in GC and its association with long-term patient prognosis were analyzed using publicly available databases and in 155 GC patients with low and high SURF4 expressions detected immunohistochemically.The Cox proportional hazard model and Kaplan-Meier survival curves were used to analyze independent prognostic predictors of GC and the 5-year survival rate of the patients with different SURF4 expression levels.Informatics analyses were conducted to explore the correlation of SURF4 expression level with immune cell infiltration in GC,SURF4-related differential genes and their associated pathways.In cultured GC cell line HGC-27,the effects of SURF4 knockdown and overexpression on proliferation,migration,invasion and epithelial-mesenchymal transition(EMT)were investigated.Results Analysis of GEPIA dataset and immunohistochemical results suggested significant SURF4 overexpression in GC(P<0.05),which was associated with shortened 5-year survival time of the patients(χ2=38.749,P<0.001).The prognosis of GC was closely related to tumor stage T3-4,N2-3,CEA≥5 µg/L and CA19-9≥37 kU/L(P<0.05).SURF4 expression level was negatively correlated with activated B cells,NK cells and CD8+effector memory T cells(P<0.05)and positively correlated with CD4+T cells(P<0.05).GO and KEGG enrichment analysis suggested that SUFR4 may participate in GC carcinogenesis by promoting EMT through the tight junction pathway.In HGC-27 cells,SURF4 overexpression significantly decreased E-cadherin expression,increased N-cadherin expression,inhibited ZO-1 and claudin-1 expressions,and promoted cell proliferation,migration and invasion.Conclusion SURF4 is highly expressed in GC,and its overexpression is associated with a shortened 5-year survival of the patients possibly by enhancing tumor cell proliferation,migration and invasion via inhibiting tight junction proteins and promoting EMT.
Keywords：gastric cancerSURF4 high expressionprognosistight junction proteinepithelial-mesenchymal transition
Publication Date：2025-08-20
Online Publishing Date：2025-09-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：11( 1732-1742 )