ABSTRACT
Objective:To study the effects of activating protein kinase C (PKC)on oral squamous-cell cancer(OSCC) cell epithelial-mesenchymal transition(EMT).Methods:Plasmid pCMV6-AC-GFP-P120ctn was used to transfect HN12 cells to make P120-catenin (120ctn) overexpress and thereafter PKC activator PMA (phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate) was added to the culture.Real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR and Western blot were adopted to test mRNA and protein expression of PKC,P120ctn,E-cadherin(E-cad),N-cadherin(N-cad) and Vimentin(Vim).Transwell cell invasion and cell migration assay were used to test the invasion and migration capacity before and after the activation.Results:When PKC was activated by PMA,the expression of P120ctn and E-cad were decreased,the cell morphology changed,nRNA and protein expression of mesenchymal marker protein N-cad and Vim increased significantly.Meanwhile,the migration and invasion capacity of the tumor cells increased significantly(P ＜ 0.05).Conclusion:In OSCC cells,PKC may be involved in promoting EMT and the metastasis and invasion by adjusting P120ctn/E-cad expression and cell adhesion.