Paraquat promotes epithelial-mesenchymal transition of alveolar epithelial cells through regulating Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway / 局解手术学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate whether paraquat (PQ) induced rat alveolar type Ⅱ cells (RLE-6TN) epithelial-mesenchymal transition(EMT) and explore the underlying molecular mechanism.Methods RLE-6TN cells were treated by 20 μmol/L PQ for 24 hours,the morphology was observed by invert microscope.RT-PCR and Western blot were performed to detect the expression level of β-catenin,EMT related markers E-cadherin and vimentin.Then we performed the Transwell invasion assays to detect the ability of cell invasion.Results The results demonstrated that PQ was able to induce the transition of RLE-6TN cells from epithelial morphology to fibroblast-like morphology,associated with the acquisition of migratory properties.Furthermore,knockdown of β-catenin by using specific siRNA could reverse PQ triggered EMT process and attenuated cell migration ability.Conclusion PQ promotes RLE-6TN epithelial-mesenchymal transition by upregulating the expression of Wnt/β-catenin.