Flotillin-1 promotes progression and dampens chemosensitivity to cisplatin in gastric cancer via ERK and AKT signaling pathways

Background: Several past studies have reported the overexpression of Flotillin-1 in a variety of Cancer types. Cisplatin is a chemotherapeutic drug commonly used for Cancer treatment. The present study investigated the role of Flotillin-1 in the progression of GC and assessed whether it assists in the chemical sensitization of GC cells toward cisplatin.

Method: The expression of Flotillin-1 was detected both in human gastric mucosal cells and GC cells. Next, siRNA and shRNA were used to construct a stable cell line expressing low levels of Flotillin-1. Furthermore, the Cell Counting Kit 8 (CCK-8), flow cytometry, and transwell assays were employed to detect the impact of Flotillin-1 on GC cells. In addition, a nude mouse model of human GC was used to verify the knockdown of Flotillin-1 to increase the sensitivity of GC cells to cisplatin.

Results: Flotillin-1 was overexpressed in GC cells when compared to that in human gastric mucosal cells. The results for in vitro and vivo assays revealed that the knockdown of Flotillin-1 could significantly inhibit the proliferation of GC cells and increased the sensitivity of GC cells to cisplatin via the regulation of the protein kinase B (Akt) and extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) signaling pathway.

Conclusion: Flotillin-1 might be used as a molecular marker for GC diagnosis and could be explored as a potential new target for the treatment of GC.