DARS2 promotes the occurrence of lung adenocarcinoma via the ERK/c‐Myc signaling pathway

Abstract

BackgroundDARS2 expression is upregulated in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) which correlates with tumor patient stage and prognosis. The mechanism of DARS2 involvement in LUAD still needs to be further explored.MethodsIn this study, we found that DARS2 expression in LUAD tissue was significantly higher than that in normal tissue. At the same time, the Kaplan–Meier curve showed that the survival prognosis of LUAD patients with high expression of DARS2 was significantly worse than low expression of DARS2. The expression of DARS2 was detected in LUAD and adjacent normal tissues by IHC staining, histochemical scoring and a survival curve was generated. In addition, we demonstrated that the knockdown and overexpression of DARS2 significantly affected the proliferation, invasion, and migration of LUAD cells in vitro and in vivo. Finally, western blot and rescue assay were performed on LUAD cells to further explore and verify the signaling pathway.ResultsDARS2 expression was significantly upregulated in LUAD tissues and cell lines. What is more, the increased expression of DARS2 was closely related to proliferation, invasion and metastasis. The tumorigenic assay in nude mice further showed that the tumorigenic ability of nude mice was significantly improved with the increase in DARS2 expression. Finally, we determined that DARS2 plays its role in LUAD by targeting the ERK/c‐Myc signaling pathway.ConclusionOur data revealed the oncogenic role of DARS2 in LUAD, indicating that DARS2 may be a predictive biomarker and novel therapeutic target for LUAD.

Prognostic biomarker DARS2 correlated with immune infiltrates in bladder tumor

“…Our investigation into PD-L1 reveals that both the downregulation and upregulation of DARS2 may result in a corresponding decrease or increase in PD-L1 expression. Recent research has unveiled that knocking down DARS2 leads to a diminished expression of p-ERK1/2, while DARS2 overexpression prompts an elevation in p-ERK1/2 levels ( 29 ). Previous studies have substantiated the role of the ERK-MAPK pathway in modulating PD-L1 expression across diverse cell types, where the regulation of p-ERK1/2 expression can intricately impact PD-L1 levels ( 30 – 34 ).…”