ABSTRACT
AIM: To investigate the possible signaling pathway that promotes epithelial-mesenchymal transi-tion(EMT)of the lung cancer A549 cells stimulated with muscarinic receptor 3(M3R)agonist carbachol.METHODS:The lung cancer cells A549 were treated with 400 μmol/L carbachol.The morphological changes of the cells were observed under inverted phase contrast microscope.The migration and invasion abilites were measured by Wound healing and Tran-swell assays.qPCR was used to detect the mRNA level of vimentin and E-cadherin.The protein levels of p-AKT,vimentin and E-cadherin were determined by Western blot.RESULTS:After treatment with carbachol,the A549 cells showed loss of the close connection and the cell morphology was transformed from irregular polygon to spindle -like cells.The results of Wound healing and Transwell assays showed that the migration and invasion abilites of the A 549 cells were enhanced.Car-bachol increased the vimentin expression and decreased the E-cadherin expression at mRNA and protein level(P<0.05). The phosphorylation of AKT in the A549 cells was up-regulated(P<0.05).These changes was inhibited by M3R antago-nist 4-DAMP.CONCLUSION:Carbachol promotes EMT in the human lung cancer A 549 cells by activating PI3K/AKT signaling pathway.