RÉSUMÉ
AIM:To explore the impact of Delta-like ligand 3(DLL3)on the progression of prostate cancer(Pca)and to elucidate its potential molecular mechanisms.METHODS:Overexpression and interference plasmids of DLL3 gene were constructed,and the effects of DLL3 on the proliferation,migration and invasion of Pca cells were as-sessed.Tumorigenesis assay was employed to determine whether DLL3 influenced the proliferation of PC-3 cells in vivo.The impact of DLL3 on epithelial-mesenchymal transition(EMT)and mitogen-activated protein kinase(MAPK)signaling was investigated through Western blotting.RESULTS:Overexpression of DLL3 significantly enhanced the proliferation,migration,invasion and EMT processes of Pca cells compared with empty vector group and blank control group(P＜0.05).Conversely,knockdown of DLL3 expression yielded opposite effects(P＜0.05).Moreover,up-regulation of DLL3 promoted tumor growth in the nude mouse xenograft model(P＜0.05).Further investigation demonstrated that DLL3 up-regulation led to increases in the levels of MAPK signaling pathway-related proteins.Interestingly,MAPK inhibitor effec-tively reduced the proliferation,migration and invasion of Pca cells caused by DLL3 overexpression(P＜0.05).CON-CLUSION:DLL3 promotes the proliferation,migration and invasion of Pca through the MAPK pathway.