Effect of PKC inhibition on cell migration and invasion of oral squamous cell carcinoma

Abstract

PURPOSE: By using HN4 cells, the correlation among protein kinase C(PKC), P120-catenin(P120ctn) and E-cadherin (E-cad) was investigated, and the role of them in migration and invasion of oral squamous-cell cancer(OSCC) was evaluated. METHODS: Plasmid pGFP-V-RS-P120ctn shRNA was used to transfect HN4 cells to significantly reduce the expression of P120ctn and PKC inhibitor staurosporine (STS) was added. mRNA and protein expression of PKC, P120ctn and E-cad were tested and Transwell cell invasion and cell migration assay was used to test the invasion and migration capacity before and after PKC inhibition. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS 18.0 software package. RESULTS: When PKC was inhibited by STS, the expression of P120ctn and E-cad in OSCC cells were increased and the migration and invasion capacity of tumor cells decreased significantly (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS：PKC may be involved in the process of HN4 migration and invasion by regulating cell adhesion through the effect of P120ctn and E-cad.