ETV1 induces epithelial to mesenchymal transition in human gastric cancer cells through the upregulation of Snail expression

Abstract

The ETS family of transcription factors is involved in several physiological and pathological processes including tumor progression. The ETS transcription factors are divided into subfamilies based on the sequence and location of the ETS domain. ETV1 (Ets variant gene 1; also known as ER81), is a member of the PEA3 subfamily, which has been found to promote metastatic progression in several types of human cancer. Previous findings demonstrated that ETV1 expression is upregulated in gastric adenocarcinomas; however, the underlying mechanisms of ETV1-induced metastatic progression in gastric cancer remain elusive. In the present study, we found that the overexpression of ETV1 in normal gastric epithelial cells resulted in epithelial to mesenchymal transition (EMT) and increased invasiveness. Conversely, knockdown of ETV1 resulted in decreased aggressiveness of the invasive gastric cancer cells. Mechanistically, ETV1 transcriptionally upregulates Snail expression. Of note, ETV1 expression is significantly correlated with Snail expression in human gastric tumor samples. In summary, we present data that ETV1 promotes Snail expression to induce EMT-like metastatic progression in gastric cancer.