Integrin α1 promotes tumorigenicity and progressive capacity of colorectal cancer

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of death globally. Integrin α1 (ITGA1) belongs to integrin family and involves in regulating cell adhesion, invasion, proliferation and tumorigenicity, its expression is up-regulated in various cancers, including CRC. However, the molecular understanding and clinical relevance of ITGA1 in the development and progression of CRC remain unclear. In the present study, we detected ITGA1 in 50 CRC tissues and adjacent non-cancerous tissues, sera from 100 CRC patients and 50 healthy subjects, and four CRC cell lines using immunohistochemistry staining, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and Western blotting. We found that the ITGA1 protein was significantly higher in human CRC tissues and cell lines than both paired non-tumor tissues and normal cells, respectively. In addition, the serum concentration of ITGA1 was also higher in CRC patients compared to the healthy subjects (p<0.01) and was significantly associated with metastatic TNM stages (p<0.0001) and circulating carbohydrate antigen 199 (CA199) (p<0.022). Furthermore, down-regulation of ITGA1 with transfecting LV-shITGA1 inhibited the progressive capacity of cell migration and invasion in CRC SW480 cell line and the tumorgenicity in nude mice. In functional studies, ITGA1 knockdown also inhibited Ras/ERK signaling pathway by decreasing the expression of Ras, p-Erk1/2 and c-Myc in SW480. Contrastly, when evelated expression of ITGA1 in NCM460 coincided with the increased expression of Ras, p-Erk1/2 and c-Myc. Taken together, our findings suggest that ITGA1 is an oncogene with a capability to promote CRC cell migration, invasion and tumorigenicity by activating the Ras/Erk signaling, implying that it may be a novel target for the diagnosis and treatment of CRC, and warrants further investigation.

Hsa_circ_0110757 upregulates ITGA1 to facilitate temozolomide resistance in glioma by suppressing hsa-miR-1298-5p

“…ITGA1, also known as CD49a or VLA1, encodes the α subunit of integrin receptors and plays an important role in cell–cell adhesion 25 . ITGA1 was highly expressed in TMZ-resistant pancreatic cancer, and downregulated ITGA1 restored the sensitivity of the above cells to TMZ 26 .…”

Expression and Prognostic Analysis of Integrins in Gastric Cancer

“…ITGA1 is highly expressed in pancreatic cancer [ 15 ], colorectal cancer [ 16 , 17 ], and GC [ 18 ]. Another study found that it was significantly related to colon tumor metastasis and clinical staging and can promote the invasion, migration, and tumorigenicity of colon cancer cells.…”

“…Another study found that it was significantly related to colon tumor metastasis and clinical staging and can promote the invasion, migration, and tumorigenicity of colon cancer cells. In vivo and in vitro experiments proved that ITGA1 is an oncogene and may be considered a new target for colon cancer diagnosis and treatment [ 16 , 17 ]. ITGA1 gene is also involved in peritoneal metastasis of GC cells [ 19 ].…”

RUNX1/ETO and mutant KIT both contribute to programming the transcriptional and chromatin landscape in t(8;21) acute myeloid leukemia

“…Conversely, overexpressing KIT led to upregulation of genes involved in ERK, cAMP and WNT signalling (such as LEF1, SOX13, ADCYAP1 and ITGA1 27 ) as well as the HIPPO signalling pathway (TEAD2) (Supplementary Fig. 2c).…”