IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0141308.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Expression of Beclin Family Proteins Is Associated with Tumor Progression in Oral Cancer

Author

Listed:
  • Jing-Lan Liu
  • Fen-Fen Chen
  • Shun-Fu Chang
  • Cheng-Nan Chen
  • Jrhau Lung
  • Cheng-Hsing Lo
  • Fang-Hui Lee
  • Ying-Chou Lu
  • Chien-Hui Hung

Abstract

Background: Beclin 1 and Beclin 2 are autophagy-related proteins that show similar amino acid sequences and domain structures. Beclin 1 established the first connection between autophagy and cancer. However, the role of Beclin 2 in cancer is unclear. The aims of this study were to analyze Beclin 1 and Beclin 2 expressions in oral cancer tissues and in cell lines, and to evaluate their possible roles in cancer progression. Methods: We investigated Beclin 1 and Beclin 2 expressions by immunohistochemistry in 195 cases of oral cancer. The prognostic roles of Beclin 1 and Beclin 2 were analyzed statistically. In vitro, overexpression and knockdown of Beclin proteins were performed on an oral cancer cell line, SAS. The immunofluorescence and autophagy flux assays confirmed that Beclin proteins were involved in autophagy. The impacts of Beclin 1 and Beclin 2 on autophagy and tumor growth were evaluated by conversion of LC3-I to LC3-II and by clonogenic assays, respectively. Results: Oral cancer tissues exhibited aberrant expressions of Beclin 1 and Beclin 2. The cytoplasmic Beclin 1 and Beclin 2 expressions were unrelated in oral cancer tissues. In survival analyses, high cytoplasmic Beclin 1 expression was associated with low disease specific survival, and negative nuclear Beclin 1 expression was associated with high recurrent free survival. Patients with either high or low cytoplasmic Beclin 2 expression had significantly lower overall survival and disease specific survival rates than those with moderate expression. In oral cancer cells, overexpression of either Beclin 1 or Beclin 2 led to autophagy activation and increased clonogenic survival; knockdown of Beclin 2 impaired autophagy and increased clonogenic survival. Conclusions: Our results indicated that distinct patterns of Beclin 1 and Beclin 2 were associated with aggressive clinical outcomes. Beclin 1 overexpression, as well as Beclin 2 overexpression and depletion, contributed to tumor growth. These findings suggest Beclin proteins are associated with tumorigenesis.

Suggested Citation

  • Jing-Lan Liu & Fen-Fen Chen & Shun-Fu Chang & Cheng-Nan Chen & Jrhau Lung & Cheng-Hsing Lo & Fang-Hui Lee & Ying-Chou Lu & Chien-Hui Hung, 2015. "Expression of Beclin Family Proteins Is Associated with Tumor Progression in Oral Cancer," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(10), pages 1-18, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0141308
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0141308
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0141308
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0141308&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0141308?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Xiao Huan Liang & Saadiya Jackson & Matthew Seaman & Kristy Brown & Bettina Kempkes & Hanina Hibshoosh & Beth Levine, 1999. "Induction of autophagy and inhibition of tumorigenesis by beclin 1," Nature, Nature, vol. 402(6762), pages 672-676, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yaechan Song & Heeju Na & Seung Eon Lee & You Min Kim & Jihyun Moon & Tae Wook Nam & Yul Ji & Young Jin & Jae Hyung Park & Seok Chan Cho & Jaehoon Lee & Daehee Hwang & Sang-Jun Ha & Hyun Woo Park & Ja, 2024. "Dysfunctional adipocytes promote tumor progression through YAP/TAZ-dependent cancer-associated adipocyte transformation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-16, December.
    2. Huan-Xin Lin & Hui-Juan Qiu & Fei Zeng & Hui-Lan Rao & Guo-Fen Yang & Hsiang-Fu Kung & Xiao-Feng Zhu & Yi-Xin Zeng & Mu-Yan Cai & Dan Xie, 2013. "Decreased Expression of Beclin 1 Correlates Closely with Bcl-xL Expression and Poor Prognosis of Ovarian Carcinoma," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(4), pages 1-10, April.
    3. Ida Barca & Chiara Mignogna & Daniela Novembre & Francesco Ferragina & Maria Giulia Cristofaro, 2021. "Immunohistochemical Analysis of the Beclin-1 Expression Predicts the Progression of Oral Squamous Cell Carcinoma," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-8, October.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0141308. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.