Abstract

Bowel cancer is a rare malignant tumor of digestive tract, but its incidence has been increasing in recent years. PDZ domain-containing 8 proteins (PDZD8) is a capsid-stabilizing host factor, which has been reported to be involved in various human diseases such as murine leukemia virus (MLV), simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) and HIV-1 infection. However, the functional importance of PDZD8 in human cancers has not been widely discussed. The present study aimed to investigate the significance of PDZD8 in bowel cancer development. PDZD8 expression in bowel cancer cell lines was detected by qRT-PCR. PDZD8 was knocked down in HCT 116 and RKO cells through infecting short hairpin RNA targeting PDZD8 (shPDZD8) lentivirus. The effects of PDZD8 depletion on HCT 116 and RKO cell phenotypes including proliferation, migration, apoptosis and cell cycle were detected by CCK8 assay, transwell and wound-healing assay and flow cytometry analysis. The results indicated that PDZD8 was highly expressed in bowel cancer cell lines. In addition, silencing PDZD8 in HCT 116 and RKO cell lines suppressed cell proliferation and migration, enhanced apoptosis as well as arrested cell cycle. In summary, knocking down PDZD8 might be a considerable therapeutic strategy for the treatment of bowel cancer.

Keywords: Bowel cancer; PDZD8; Cell proliferation; Cell apoptosis; Cell migration