Downregulation of stathmin 1 in human gallbladder carcinoma inhibits tumor growth in vitro and in vivo

Gallbladder carcinoma (GBC) is a highly lethal malignancy of the gastrointestinal tract. Despite extensive research, the underlying molecular mechanism of GBC remains largely unclear. Stathmin 1 (STMN1) is an important cytosolic protein associated with microtubule stability that was reported to be involved in tumorigenesis. Up to our knowledge, its role in gallbladder carcinoma has not been analyzed. In this study, we found that STMN1 was significantly highly expressed in GBC by immunohistochemistry (IHC). Further research demonstrated that silencing of STMN1 inhibited cell growth in vitro. Moreover, knockdown of STMN1 induced apoptosis and delayed G2/M phase transformation in GBC cells. Our data support a rationale for further studies that the silencing of STMN1 may regulate the activity of p38 MAPK kinase and p53/p21 signal pathway. Besides, xenografted gallbladder carcinoma cells growth were significantly impaired after STMN1 was silenced in vivo. These results suggested that STMN1 played an important role in cell proliferation and migration. This provided a potential clue for investigating the therapeutic target in GBC.