14-3-3ε functions as an oncogene in SGC7901 gastric cancer cells through involvement of cyclin E and p27kip1

Investigation into the highly conserved 14-3-3 epsilon protein has become increasingly important in cell biology due to its involvement in cell survival signaling, cell cycle control and apoptosis. The 14-3-3 epsilon protein has been found to exert an impact on the development of various tumor types. However, the functional role and the possible mechanism of 14-3-3 epsilon in gastric cancer remains to be elucidated. A previous study by our group indicated a negative correlation between 14-3-3 epsilon expression levels and gastric cancer tissue differentiation and a positive correlation between 14-3-3 epsilon expression levels and tumor infiltration, lymph node metastasis and tumor, nodes and metastasis staging. In the present study, 14-3-3 epsilon suppression in the SGC7901 gastric cancer cell line was demonstrated to inhibit cell proliferation in vitro and tumor growth in vivo and the cell cycle-associated proteins cyclin E and p27(kip1) may have contributed to this antitumor effect. The present study showed for the first time that reducing the expression of 14-3-3 epsilon may inhibit the proliferation and progression of gastric cancer and inhibition of this protein may provide a potential strategy for gastric cancer therapy in the future.