<i>HOXA1</i> Promotes Migration, Invasion and Cell Cycle, and Suppresses Cisplatin Sensitivity of Laryngeal Cancer Cells By Mediating AKT/mTOR Pathway

HOXA1 Promotes Migration, Invasion and Cell Cycle, and Suppresses Cisplatin Sensitivity of Laryngeal Cancer Cells By Mediating AKT/mTOR Pathway

Shaohao Luo,¹ Yunfei Bai,² Boqian Wang,² Haixia Xu,² Shu Zhang,² Gang Guo,² Xin Li,² Hongyang Sun² and Xiaobo Cui²

¹Graduate School, Inner Mongolia Medical University
²Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, the Affiliated Hospital of Inner Mongolia Medical University

Homeobox A1 (HOXA1) is implicated in the progression of various cancers, but its biological function in laryngeal cancer (LC) remains undefined, which is the foothold of our study. Bioinformatics analysis and survival analysis were performed to predict HOXA1 expression in LC tissues, and the prognostic relationship between high HOXA1 expression and LC. Whether high HOXA1 expression correlated with the clinical characteristics and prognosis of LC patients was analyzed. LC cell viability and sensitivity to cisplatin were determined by Methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium assay. The cell migration, invasion, and cell cycle after transfection were examined by Wound healing, Transwell, and flow cytometry assays, respectively. The corresponding mRNA and protein expressions were measured by quantitative real-time PCR or Western blot. A higher expression of HOXA1 was detected in LC tissues, which was found to be relevant to poor prognosis of LC patients. The association of high expression of HOXA1 with lymph node and clinical stage was also confirmed. Silencing of HOXA1 in LC cells enhanced the cell sensitivity to cisplatin, inhibited viability, migration, invasion and cell cycle, and reduced N-Cadherin, Vimentin, PCNA, p-AKT and p-mTOR expressions, while overexpression of HOXA1 had the opposite effects. Collectively, HOXA1 boosts migration, invasion and cell cycle, while suppressing cisplatin sensitivity of LC cells by mediating AKT/mTOR pathway, hinting that HOXA1 is a promising biomarker for diagnosis and prognosis of LC in clinical practice.

Key words —— AKT/mTOR pathway; homeobox A1; invasion; laryngeal cancer; migration

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2025 March, 265(3), 161-171.

Correspondence: Yunfei Bai, Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, the Affiliated Hospital of Inner Mongolia Medical University, 1 Tongdao North Street, Huimin District, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region 010050, China.

e-mail: baiyunfei_baiyf@163.com