Preliminary exploration of the role of thymidine phosphorylase in cervical cancer

CHEN Xun; ZHENG Zhenxia; RUAN Xueru

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1674-4136.2025.01.014

Abstract：Objective Thymidine phosphorylase is overexpressed in many cancers and also highly expressed in cervical cancer tissues.This article aims to analyze the role of TYMP on cervical cancer through in vitro experiments on cervical cancer HeLa cells and to preliminarily explore the possible mechanism.Methods By transfecting HeLa cells with plasmids,cells with stable overexpression of TYMP and cells with stale knockdown of TYMP were obtained.Cell proliferation ability was detected using CCK8 assay,EdU labeling assayand clone formation assay.Cell migration ability was detected using transwell assay.Cells with stable overexpression of TYMP and control cells were compared using proteomics analysis.Results The cell proliferation activity(P＜0.05),the number of EdU positive cells(P＜0.05),and the migration ability(P＜0.001)were significantly increased in cervical cancer HeLa cells with overexpression of TYMP.After knocking down TYMP in cervical cancer HeLa cells,the cell proliferation was significantly inhibited(P＜0.001),the number of EdU positive cells was significantly reduced(P＜0.05),and the migration ability was significantly inhibited(P＜0.001).In cells with stable overexpression of TYMP,lipid metabolism and angiogenesis pathways were upregulated,while ncRNA(non-coding RNA)metabolism and ribosome biogenesis pathways were downregulated.Conclusions Overexpression of TYMP in cervical cancer HeLa cells promotes the proliferation and migration ability,while knockdown significantly inhibits these abilities.The mechanism may be achieved by regulating lipid metabolism and angiogenesis.