Hong Ma; Xiaojing Nie; Dongbo Luo; Xin Wang; Qian Liu; Liang He; Yunxin Wang & Wei Lan

Esophageal cancer is one of the most aggressive gastrointestinal cancers. Invasion and metastasis are the main causes of poor prognosis of esophageal cancer. SPRY2 has been reported to exert promoting effects in human cancers, which controls signal pathways including PI3K/AKT and MAPKs. However, the expression of SPRY2 in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and its underlying mechanism remain unclear. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the detailed role of SPRY2 in the regulation of cell proliferation, invasion and ERK/AKT signaling pathway in ESCC. It was identified that the expression level of SPRY2 in ESCC was remarkably decreased compared with normal tissues, and it was related to clinicopathologic features and prognosis ESCC patients. The upregulation of SPRY2 expression notably inhibited the proliferation, migration and invasion of Eca-109 cells. In addition, the activity of ERK /AKT signaling was also suppressed by the SPRY2 upregulation in Eca-109 cells. Our study suggests that overexpression of SPRY2 suppress cancer cell proliferation and invasion of by through suppression of the ERK/AKT signaling pathways in ESCC. Therefore, SPRY2 may be a promising prognostic marker and therapeutic target for ESCC.

KEY WORDS: SPRY2; ERK; AKT; Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma(ESCC).

MA, H.; NIE, X; LUO, D; WANG, X.; LIU, Q.; HE, L.; WANG, Y. & LAN, W. Overexpression SPRY2 suppresses esophageal squamous cell carcinoma progression via inactivation of ERK/AKT signaling. Int. J. Morphol., 42(1):154-161, 2024.