FHOD3 Promotes the Progression of Lung Cancer by Regulating the Caspase-3-Mediated Signaling Pathway.

Introduction/objective: Lung cancer causes hundreds of thousands of deaths each year worldwide. FHOD3 was reported to accelerate the progression of brain cancer. However, its role in lung cancer is not clear. This study aimed to investigate the role of FHOD3 in lung cancer.

Methods: The clinical significance of FHOD3 in lung cancer was analyzed based on the data from the TCGA database. The expression level of FHOD3 was detected by qPCR technology. Cell proliferation was detected by CCK-8 assay, and cell invasion was detected by transwell assay. The activity of caspase-3 was determined by the ELISA method, cell apoptosis was iden-tified by TUNEL assay, and protein expression was measured by western blotting technology.

Results: Based on the TCGA data, FHOD3 was overexpressed in tumor tissues compared to the normal tissues. Patients with higher FHOD3 expression exhibited a worse survival rate. The expression levels of FHOD3 in lung cancer cell lines were much higher than that in normal cells. When FHOD3 was knocked down, the ability of cell proliferation and invasion was sig-nificantly inhibited. Cell apoptosis rate was increased reversely. The activity of caspase-3 was increased significantly. In addition, the expression level of cleaved caspase-3 was increased. The expression levels of Bax, caspase-8, and ICAD were also increased significantly. However, the expression of antiapoptotic molecule Bcl-2 was decreased reversely. This suggests that the caspase-3-mediated apoptosis signaling pathway was activated by FHOD3 knockdown.

Conclusion: FHOD3 was overexpressed and negatively associated with survival rate in lung cancer patients. FHOD3 regulates cell proliferation, invasion, and apoptosis through the caspase-3-mediated signaling pathway. This study indicates that FHOD3 is an important gene contributing to the progression of lung cancer and might be a new drug target for the therapy of lung cancer.