Increased serum chemerin level promotes cellular invasiveness in gastric cancer: A clinical and experimental study

•Serum chemerin level was higher in gastric cancer patients than healthy control. The elevation was associated with advanced clinical stages and non-intestinal type of gastric cancer.•Chemerin enhanced gastric cancer cell invasiveness, activated ERK1/2 and p38 MAPKs and promoted the expression of pro-invasive genes (e.g. VEGF, MMP-7, and IL-6).•Inhibition of ERK1/2 but not p38 prevented the pro-invasive effect of chemerin. This study sought to determine the serum levels of chemerin in gastric cancer patients and healthy subjects and to investigate the biological effect of chemerin on gastric cancer cells. Serum chemerin level of 36 gastric cancer patients and 40 healthy subjects was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. AGS and MKN28 cells were treated with recombinant human chemerin, MAPKs phosphorylation was then measured. Chemerin were added to culture medium of AGS and MKN28 in the absence or presence of MAPK inhibitors, VEGF, MMP-7, IL-6 and cell invasiveness assay were then performed. Serum level of chemerin was significantly higher in gastric cancer patients than healthy subjects (P